In the afternoon of May 17th 2023, the CACCI Presidential Delegation made a courtesy call on the National Development Council (NDC), where they were received by NDC officers led by Minister Kung Ming-Hsin and Ms. Connie Chang, Director-General of the Department of Overall Planning.

During the meeting, the visitors learned that the NDC is the policy-planning agency of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China. It has various departments covering Overall Planning, Economic Development, Social Development, Industrial Development, Human Resources Development, National Spatial Planning and Development, Supervision and Evaluation, and Regulatory Reform.

The CACCI visitors learned that since 2016, Taiwan has initiated development policies and activities covering the three major areas of industrialization, Smart City development, and Digitalization. For instance, the country has hosted events on smart city solutions.

The NDC officials pointed out that in the year 2018, the world saw the beginnings of China-US tensions, the onset of Covid pandemic in 2019 which impacted on the global value of supply chain and necessitated supply chain restructuring.

The NDC also underscored the importance of CPTPP for Taiwan to be part of regional economic integration and called on other countries, including those that are within the geographical scope of CACCI’s membership, to support Taiwan’s commitment to join the CPTPP.

For his part Mr. McMullin underscored the SET principle that he intends to pursue during his CACCI Presidency under the general theme of “Chambers of Commerce: Getting Business SET for the Future,” namely:

(S) Sustainability is critical for SMEs to gain a competitive advantage in today’s market, to be able to manage business risks, grow their brand and enhance their access to capital.

(E) Entrepreneurship and particularly inclusive entrepreneurship supports people with new ideas to solve some of our most entrenched challenges. By supporting entrepreneurs embrace new technologies, support diverse groups of entrepreneurs and allow for innovation to flourish, new business models emerge to move the region toward a truly just economy.

(T) Trade support is a critical service Chambers provide to the business community. Trade not only helps business supply the world with the goods and services we all desire, it also builds and maintains cross border relationships. Through this work Chambers are truly strengthening global multilateralism and in-turn global peace.

Mr. Sayeed reiterated the same points he raised during the courtesy call on the MOEA, namely, the need to ease visa issuance in order facilitate person-to-person contact, using CACCI representative in Pakistan to help facilitate and issue visa recommendation for Taiwan, Pakistan’s advantage of having a young population, and extending an invitation to the Taiwanese government to visit Pakistan to get first-hand information on the country’s business, trade and investment opportunities.

The NDC conveyed an invitation to young Pakistanis to visit and study in Taiwan – taking advantage of the Taiwanese government’s current policy of expanding scholarships program to international students – and obtain training in such sectors as ICT, semiconductor, software development and textile industry, among others. Taiwanese delegation (perhaps led by CIECA, CNAIC and IEAT) can also be organized to Pakistan to discuss and explore possible collaboration in important industries such as renewable energy and biomedicine.

Mr. Atif Iqbal from Pakistan suggested the possibility of establishing a Business Council between Pakistan and Taiwan as a vehicle for further increasing economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries.

At the end of the meeting, Mr. McMullin presented a Testimonial of Appreciation to NDC for receiving the CACCI delegation and providing them the opportunity to have a dialogue on issues of mutual interest.

The full report of the CACCI Presidential Visit to Taiwan can be read HERE.