Taipei, March 1 (CNA) Two-way trade between the United Kingdom and Taiwan grew robustly in 2010 to NT$240 billion (5 billion pounds) and the positive trend was expected to continue with Taiwan's gradual development into a service-oriented economy, the top UK diplomat in Taiwan said Tuesday.
"Our trading relationship has always been strong and it is clear from these figures that trade has recovered strongly from the global economic downturn, " said David Campbell, director of the British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO) , the UK's de facto representative office in Taiwan.
Citing the latest statistics from the UK Revenue and Customs Department, Campbell said British exports to Taiwan last year totalled NT$50.4 billion, which was a significant increase of 40 percent from 2009 and way above the average 25 percent to the Asia-Pacific region for the same period.
Taiwan exports to the UK also rose last year, soaring by 38 percent compared with 2009, according to Campbell. Taiwan's main exports to the UK were telecommunications equipment, sound recording equipment, electrical machinery and appliances, office machines and automatic data processing machines, he said.
The pattern of Britain's exports to Taiwan is interesting to watch, Campbell said. Of the total 1.7 billion pounds in goods and service exports to Taiwan in 2010, physical goods accounted for 1 billion ponds, while financial, educational and other services made up the other 700 million pounds, he said.
Four or five years ago, the volume of UK service exports to Taiwan was only around 200 million to 300 million pounds, he said, noting that there has been a tremendous growth of Taiwan's service market.
Reviewing the bilateral trade relations, the director underlined the importance of the Taiwan market to the U.K., saying that the UK was exporting more to Taiwan than to Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines combined.
Taiwan's total exports to the UK were around 3.3 billion pounds (NT$159.2 billion) , which showed a trade surplus in Taiwan's favor, he said.
In terms of investment, a number of Taiwanese brands are now better known now in the U.K., he said. They include the computer maker Acer -- an official sponsor of the 2012 London Olympics -- and mobile phone maker HTC, which acquired a British company for 30 million pounds few weeks ago, Campbell said.
The UK is expected to lower its corporate tax from 28 percent to 24 percent -- the lowest rate in the G7 countries -- in four years, which would be an incentive for Taiwanese investors, he said.
British companies in Taiwan were most concerned about the government procurement issue and said that they deserved a level playing field with local competitors to apply for tenders, he said.
"We hope that real progress can be made in 2011 on market access issues, to further boost trade between Taiwan and the UK, " he said, adding that the next meeting of the Taiwan Britain Business Council will be held in Taipei in May. (By Chris Wang) enditem /pc