Chao said Saudi Arabia is one of the major economic partners of Taiwan, ranking fifth in terms of imports and 26th in terms of exports. In 2009 bilateral trade was adversely affected by the global recession, resulting in a reduction in trade of around 40 percent to $9.34 billion, the representative said.
Taiwan's exports to the Kingdom during the year reached $674 million, while its imports from the Kingdom soared to around $8.7 billion, Chao added.
Saudi Arabia's oil has played a major role in boosting the rapid economic growth of his country. "This could be credited to Saudi Arabia's permanent fuel supply to Taiwan," he observed.
Chao, a Ph.D holder in Islamic Jurisprudence from Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah, spoke on bilateral relations between the Kingdom and Taiwan, which he described as strong and cordial. He added that a Saudi-Taiwanese Joint Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation has been working to strengthen bilateral relations.
"Our next conference will take place in Taiwan this time," he said.
In the private sector, Chao outlined his country's ongoing investment projects wherein a number of Taiwanese companies have been involved in joint ventures with Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) and Taiwan Company for Cement (TFC) that created Jubail Cement Co.
Talking about current relations with mainland China, he said Taiwan's policy is to maintain the economic cooperation between them so as to boost the island's competitiveness.
In this regard, Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou has negotiated a pact, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), with his Chinese counterpart.
Outlining the objective of the pact in a previous report, he said Taiwan's competitiveness would be adversely affected by free trade between ASEAN and the mainland that began on Jan. 1 this year in accordance with the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation. A cross-strait economic agreement, he said, will stimulate foreign direct investment in Taiwan and thereby create more job opportunities for Taiwanese.
He said that the agreement would encompass three major areas of concern: tariff reductions, investment protection and intellectual property rights.