Taipei, Feb. 11 (CNA) Taiwan is ready to boost its cooperation with India on all fronts with the help of the Taiwan-India Cooperation Council (TICC), the chairman of the new organization said Saturday.
"The TICC is aimed at strengthening economic, trade, parliamentary, artistic and cultural ties between Taiwan and India," TICC Chairman Yu Shyi-kun said at the private association's inaugural ceremony.
"Establishing the new council also complements the government's 'Go South' policy. Taiwan and India share a common focus as 'India's looking east and Taiwan's going south, '" said Yu, who concurrently serves as chairman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) .
Speaking on the same occasion, Arun Sahgal, deputy director of Research and head of the Centre for Strategic Studies and Simulation of the United Service Institution of India, said India is now seeking a closer engagement with East Asia and attaches great importantance to its ties with Taiwan.
Both sides will benefit from the enhanced cooperation, Sahgal said. Sahgal also believes India has great advantages for attracting Taiwanese investors because of the size of its labor force, lower production costs and enormous market potential.
The development of Taiwan-India relations has attained a rapid and steady growth, as bilateral trade reached US$1.93 billion in 2004, five times higher than 1990 figures, Yu said. Also, the number of Indian engineers in Taiwan has reached over a thousand. Parliamentary visits and direct flights between both sides have steadily increased in recent years.
"India is seen as having the most potential among the four golden 'BRIC' (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries," Yu said. Besides Taiwan and India's collaboration on software and hardware, India's overall economic strength will provide even more opportunities for Taiwan-India economic and trade cooperation, he noted.
Yu came up with the idea to set up a Taiwan-India association after Taiwan Thinktank organized a seminar on "India-Japan-Taiwan Trialogue" in Taipei in November 2004 when Yu was still Taiwan's premier.
Information technology and infrastructural development are two sectors Taiwan and India could work on together, and India will serve as an important springboard for Taiwanese business to extend its market to Europe, former Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh
said at the TICC inaugural ceremony.