Thursday, 8/7/10

Calendar of Events

• 1 and 3 July. New Zealand feature film “Boy” screening in Taipei Film Festival competition section
• 1 July – 31 October. Taiwan Ceramics Bienniale, Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum – with participation by New Zealand ceramic artists
• 8 July. Taiwan Business Leaders’ Forum breakfast, Auckland
• 10-16 July. Moana and the Tribe in Taiwan. Performances at Hualien Stone Art Festival, 11 July and on Taiwan Indigenous Television, 13 July
• 16 and 17 July. NZTrio concerts in Taichung County (NTSO Concert Hall, Wufeng) and Taipei (Zhongshan Hall)
• 20-25 July. BioBusiness Asia Conference and BioTaiwan 2010 Exhibition
• 11-14 August. Visit by Deer Industry New Zealand delegation
• 18-19 August. APEC Food Security Forum, Taipei
• 31 August-3 September – Visit by Health Research Council delegation
• 22-31 October. Taiwan Documentary Film Festival, Taipei
• 5-8 November. Taipei International Travel Fair
• 6 November to 25 April 2011. Taipei International Gardening and Horticulture Exposition. (Soft opening September-November 2010).

Recent News

Dairy Tariffs

Taiwan’s unilateral reduction of tariffs on butter and milk fat has been extended a further six months. The tariffs on butter and anhydrous milk fat will remain 25% lower until 30 November 2010. This extension will take the total period covered by these unilateral tariff reductions to twenty-seven months. The 25% reduction provides tariffs of 3.75% for butter (HS code 04051000) and a 6% tariff on anhydrous milk fat (HS code 04059010). New Zealand is currently the number one supplier of butter to Taiwan with 70% market share.

APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) II

In May, the second meeting for 2010 of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) was held in Taipei. ABAC is a network of business representatives able to provide a business perspective on the issues being considered and worked on within the APEC forum. The meeting was attended by 170 delegates from APEC’s 21 member economies, including New Zealand ABAC representatives Tony Nowell (Director, Valadenz Ltd.) and Gary Judd (Chair, ASB Bank Ltd.).

The theme for the 2010 ABAC meeting was “Working towards sustainable growth for all” and the issues discussed by the ABAC working groups focused on: strengthening the economy for balanced growth; advancing regional economic integration; and enhancing economic growth in harmony with the environment. In conjunction with this meeting, NZCIO hosted a business breakfast to give members of the New Zealand business community in Taiwan an opportunity to meet New Zealand’s ABAC representatives; hear about APEC’s business-related initiatives and discuss ways to maximise trade opportunities with Taiwan.

Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA)

On 29 June, the Chairs of the Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) met in Chongqing and signed an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA). At the same time an agreement on intellectual property (IPR) issues was also signed. As part of ECFA, both sides agreed to an “early harvest” list of items that will be the first to enjoy tariff reductions. Under ECFA, China will cut tariffs on 539 items of interest to Taiwanese business, estimated to be worth NZ$19.64 billion (or about 16 percent of total 2009 exports to China). At the same time, Taiwan will cut tariffs on 267 items of interest to Chinese business, estimated to be worth NZ$4 billion.

New Zealand Food and Beverage Promotion

In May, the New Zealand Trade Development Centre organised several activities to promote New Zealand food and beverage. These coincided with the start of the kiwifruit season and gave exposure to a range of New Zealand products. Supermarket chain “Wellcome” (330 stores throughout Taiwan) ran a two week “New Zealand Fresh” promotion featuring products such as seafood, beef, fruit and vegetables. Also, as part of a “New Zealand Fair” run at specialty Taipei supermarket chain “City’super”, 120 new products were launched including salad dressings, sauces, jams, honey and dairy products.

New Zealand Chef, Jason Dell visited Taiwan from 10-15 May to promote products such as king salmon, lamb and beef in cooking demonstrations at “City’super” and at Taichung’s Evergreen Hotel and Taipei’s San Want Hotel. In addition, both hotels developed a special menu based on Jason Dell’s recipes, including New Zealand dishes such as half shell mussels and pavlova.

Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce (WRCC) Visit

Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO Charles Finny visited Taipei in late March. During his visit he met representatives of the Confederation of Asia/Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI), as well as the Chair and members of the Taiwan-New Zealand Business Council. He also called on the Taiwan Trade Development Council and participated in a round-table seminar at the Chunghua Institute of Economic Research.

Education Sector News

Education sector visits to the Taiwan market during May and June included a visit by the association of institutes teaching English as a second language, English New Zealand, as well as tertiary sector visits by both Victoria University and Waikato University. English New Zealand visited Taipei on 14 May and organised a seminar attended by 35 agents. During the visit by Victoria University, a framework arrangement was concluded with Chengchi University to enable the development of cooperation in areas such as staff and student exchanges, joint research activities and participation in academic conferences. Waikato University has continued to build on the cooperation arrangement it has developed with Tamkang University and to explore additional linkages, including in the areas of tourism and science.

Science Council Visit and Joint Symposium

In late April the fourth in the series of joint science symposia organised by New Zealand’s Royal Society and the Taiwan Science Council was held in Wellington. This symposium followed on from an earlier one held in Taiwan in late 2008 and focussed on nano-technologies for bio-imaging, sensing and diagnosis. The symposium coincided with the MacDiarmid Institute annual BioNanoNetwork meeting in Wellington. Six specialist Taiwanese researchers, from four major universities and the Nanomedicine Research Centre, participated in the joint symposium and travelled to Christchurch on 30 April for laboratory visits and a workshop at Canterbury University.

Coinciding with this fourth RSNZ-NSC joint symposium, the Deputy Chair of the Science Council, Dr Wen-Chang Chang – accompanied by marine science and aquaculture specialist from Taiwan Ocean University, Dr Ching-Fong Chang – also visited New Zealand, 26-28 April. Their programme included meetings with Auckland University (including Auckland UniServices Ltd), the New Zealand Royal Society, the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Sciences and the Health Research Council.

Asia NZ Business Internships

Two Asia NZ business internships were awarded again this year for young New Zealanders to undertake short term research and work placements with Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). The first intern, from Auckland University, arrived in May and is undertaking research work focussed on acquaculture applications for solar energy. A second intern, from Canterbury University, is due to arrive in December and will be working in ITRI’s International Business Centre.

Austronesian Conference

The Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) hosted its annual Austronesian Conference in Taipei, 8-11 June. Well known New Zealand screen-writer Briar Grace-Smith and Hemana Eruera from Te Puni Kokiri were among the many invited guests. Both spoke positively of their experiences and saw the conference as a successful forum for debate, networking and sparking new collaborations. A key theme of the conference was the conservation of traditional knowledge and culture, including through the media, visual arts, literature, film and other creative media. The impact of tourism on indigenous peoples and the environment were also discussed. The conference concluded with a visit to Sun Moon Lake and the indigenous communities in that area.

Television Feature Programmes on New Zealand

Following the visit to New Zealand in March by a two-person TV crew from SET TV’s “Borderless World” programme, two television features showcasing 21st century New Zealand were screened over four weekends in May and June. The programmes featured stories from New Zealand business (including high tech industry, as well as food and beverage), tourism and travel and lifestyle (including education, culture, fashion and filmmaking).