Monday, March 20, 2006

FORUM HOPES TO FACILITATE CLOSER TAIWAN-INDIA TIES

Taipei, March 20 (CNA) A forum gathering scholars and researchers from Taiwan and India was held Monday in Taipei in what is hoped will be the first of many dialogues in which experts from both countries can develop a multi-dimensional strategy that promotes economic prosperity and further consolidates democratic values.

The Taiwan-India Forum, which was hosted by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), focused on sharing experiences of democracy and was composed of three panel discussions -- Synergy of Democracies, Economic Security and Democracy, and Democracy and Economic Prosperity.

Taiwan Thinktank and the Taiwan-India Cooperation Council (TICC), which was established in February by leaders from the industrial, government and academic sectors in Taiwan, co-sponsored the one-day event.

It is time for Taiwan to understand more about the oldest democracy in Asia and the largest potential market, said Lin Wen-cheng, vice president of the TFD, who served as moderator of the forum.

Dr. Madhav Nalapat, a professor of geopolitics at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, and Vimal Shah, CEO of Akruti Ltd., were guest speakers.

India "is a very interesting country for Taiwan, " said Nalapat.

"While Taiwan has the potential to be a major player on the international stage, India has the potential to be an alternative market to replace China for Taiwan," Nalapat noted.

"Democracy should be seen as a strategy development for Taiwan," Nalapat said, adding that the linkage of sharing the experience of democracy could be a very good starting point for exchanges between Taiwan and India, and could be followed by exchanges in trade, technology and science.

In recent years, Taiwan-India cooperation has seen steady growth. Since Taiwan's Bureau of Foreign Trade initiated the "Proposal for Enhancing Bilateral Trade with India, " bilateral trade between the two nations reached US$2.26 billion in November 2005. Both sides set the ambitious goal of raising bilateral trade to US$7 billion by 2007.

However, Lin Shih-chia, deputy secretary-general of the TICC, said Taiwan-India understanding is "too-fragmented" as the two sides have not organized the necessary many-faceted dialogues effectively.