TAITRA Sets up Rep. Office in Philippines

To help Taiwanese manufacturers explore the Filipino market, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) recently established a representative office in Manila for its first foothold in the country, raising the number of TAITRA offices in Southeast Asia  to seven and 60 globally.

TAITRA has also set up five other overseas offices in 2013, in Kuwait, Kolkatta of India, Yangon of Myanmar, and China's Guangzhou of Guangdong Province and Qingdao of Shangdong Province.

C.K. Wang, chairman of TAITRA, indicates that the Philippines is an emerging economy with potential market, abundant natural resources and relatively large population of nearly 100 million persons. It's noteworthy that the country receives annually US$26 billion repatriated by its overseas  workers, which helps fuel the country's consumer market.

Wang discloses that TAITRA intends to establish more overseas footholds in 2014 with locations likely to be China's Chengdu of Sichuan Province and Dalian of Liaoning Province as well as Pakistan and some in Africa and Central Asia. (JL)

TAITRA Rep. Offices in Southeast Asia             Unit: US$B.
Country	City	Import  from Taiwan in first 10 months
Singapore	Singapore	16.255
Philippines	Manila	7.94
Vietnam	Ho Chi Minh City	7.453
Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	6.642
Thailand	Bangkok	5.376
Indonesia	Jakarta	4.298
Myanmar	Yangon	1.41

Source: TAITRA