Taipei, Sept. 19 (CNA) The Czech Republic has been one of the few European countries to successfully attract large direct investments from Taiwanese businesses, and the fast developing relations have been beneficial to both sides, a Czech official said Wednesday.
Taiwanese businesses, especially those from the ICT (information and communication technology) sector, have made their mark in Czech, which has become their gateway to the European Union (EU) market, said Jaroslav Dolecek, top representative of Czech Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan.
Taiwan's direct investment to the EU market has been decreasing since 2001 to 1 billion Euros in 2004, representing only 0.06 percent of the total foreign direct investment in the EU, according to a statistics released by the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) in Taiwan.
Taiwan is the third largest Asian investor to the Czech Republic, behind Japan and South Korea, and the total cumulative amount of foreign investment is about US$250 million to date, Dolecek said.
Fortunately, Czech was among three major countries, including Vietnam and India, that Taiwan government has been seriously working to prevent foreign investment from focusing on China, he said.
Almost every major player in Taiwan's ICT industry has invested in Czech, including Foxconn Electronics, Acer Group and Asus, making Czech Republic the major producer of computers in Europe that accounts over 40 percent of the total EU production capacity.
Foxconn Electronics has been doing especially well, Dolecek said, as the company is currently the eighth largest company in the country and its second largest exporter.
The booming trade and investment ties also stimulated tourism as a record 36,000 tourist visas had been issued to Taiwanese citizens last year. Czech has been exporting automotive and machinery products to Taiwan, he said.
Taiwanese probably feel more comfortable and familiar with Czech since both countries shared similar history and development in the past decades, Dolecek said. The Czech Republic ended its Communists regime in 1989 while Taiwan lifted its 38-year martial law in 1987.