Taipei, Sept. 30 (CNA) The United States and Taiwan will resume suspended trade talks and could begin as early as this year, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a press release Thursday.
Bruce J.D. Linghu, director-general of the Department of North American Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed the news at a press briefing later in the day.
A delegation of officials from the office of the United States Trade Representative, the Department of Commerce and AIT Washington headquarters visited Taipei earlier this week for meetings with Taiwan officials to discuss a full range of economic issues, the AIT said.
The group talked about how to broaden and deepen the strong bilateral trade and economic relationship under the auspices of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), the AIT -- the U.S. representative office in Taiwan in the absence of official bilateral diplomatic ties -- said in the press release.
The TIFA framework has provided an official channel for Taiwan-U.S. dialogue on trade and economic issues since it was signed in September 1994, but the two sides have not held TIFA talks since 2007. (By Chris Wang) enditem/bc