December 3, 2021
No. 261
Karol Galek, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic, will lead a delegation of 43 Slovak government, research, industry, and academic representatives to Taiwan. The group will arrive on a chartered plane on December 5 and depart on December 10. Members include 18 high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Economy; Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs; Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport; Innovation and Energy Agency; Business Agency; Investment and Trade Development Agency; and the Slovak Academy of Sciences. The delegation also includes 25 outstanding business representatives, highly recommended by the Slovak government, who have extensive production and R&D experience in the space, biotechnology, semiconductor, and sectors. This is the first time Slovakia has sent such a large and high-ranking delegation of important officials since the nation established a representative office in Taiwan in 2003. MOFA wholeheartedly welcomes this significant visit.
While State Secretary Galek and the delegation are in Taiwan, they will attend the first session of the Taiwanese-Slovak Commission on Economic Cooperation. The meeting will feature two working groups—one on economics and trade and the other on education, research, and tourism. Discussions will focus on how to build partnerships between Taiwan and Slovakia in a broad spectrum of other sectors, including trade and investment, education, culture, and tourism. In addition, the delegation will use the Slovakia Investment and Business Opportunities Forum, business-to-business (B2B) consultations, and other related activities to expand bilateral cooperation on trade and investment, industrial connectivity, supply chain security, and other areas to jointly establish stable and resilient democratic supply chains.
In recent years, Taiwan-Slovakia relations have continued to deepen. This year, the Foreign Affairs Committee of Slovakia’s National Council passed a resolution for the first time supporting Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly. In September, Slovakia announced it would donate 160,000 vaccine doses to assist Taiwan’s efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. In October, Taiwan organized a trade and investment delegation to visit three countries in Central and Eastern Europe, including Slovakia. The two sides signed seven bilateral memorandums of understanding, held 170 B2B meetings, and established a solid foundation for mutual economic and trade cooperation as well as industrial connections. Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaushieh Joseph Wu was invited by the renowned Slovak think tank GLOBSEC to give a keynote address, in which he called on the world to cooperate to resist authoritarianism and strengthen postpandemic supply chains.
MOFA is confident that the visit by State Secretary Galek will further heighten Taiwan-Slovakia cooperation and people-to-people friendships. Relevant government agencies will follow Central Epidemic Command Center directions in receiving the delegation. Appropriate measures will be implemented to comply with antipandemic regulations while also ensuring the success of the visit. (E)
