PR-2040
September 4, 2020
Forum on Supply Chain Restructuring: Improving Resilience Amongst Like-Minded Partners
On September 4, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economic Affairs, European Economic and Trade Office (EETO), Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association (JTEA), and Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) co-organized a Forum on Supply Chain Restructuring: Improving Resilience Amongst Like-Minded Partners. The purpose of the Forum was to discuss a variety of policy tools to restructure supply chains while ensuring that businesses and economies can thrive. The program explored bilateral, regional, and global opportunities for cooperation on this shared priority. AIT Director Brent Christensen, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, Czech Senate President Miloš Vystrčil, EETO Representative Filip Grzegorzewski, JTEA Representative Hiroyasu Izumi, and TAITRA Chairman James Huang spoke during the event. Adam Boehler, CEO of U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, also sent a video message.
In his remarks, AIT Director Brent Christensen said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the risks of relying too much on a single country or supplier for critical materials like medical supplies and pharmaceuticals and for inputs to strategically important industries…As we plan for a post-pandemic world and evaluate what changes to the global supply chain are necessary, one thing is certain: Taiwan has demonstrated time and again that it is a reliable partner and a critical player for moving toward a more sustainable global economy.”
Following today’s event, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) are pleased to announce that we will strengthen consultations and cooperation on supply chain restructuring and resiliency. Attached please find a joint statement describing this new partnership.
Joint Statement on Securing Supply Chains
As the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical uncertainties continue to impact supply chains around the world, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) will strengthen consultations and cooperation on supply chain restructuring and resiliency, especially in the ICT and medical sectors.
This partnership will focus on:
- Encouraging partners to bring supply chains closer to home or like-minded economies.
- Engaging with like-minded partners to develop new supply chains based on shared values, standards, and best practices to create crisis-resilient supply chain networks.
- Ensuring that supply chains are secure and free from political coercion.
To strengthen this partnership, we will seek to share best practices and cooperate on a range of activities, including:
- Increasing the frequency, size, and scope of conferences within and outside of Taiwan.
- Expanding the depth and breadth of participation from like-minded countries and economies.
- Establishing an Experts Advisory Board Network to capitalize on expertise from the private sector, industry associations, academia, and think tank community.
- Coordinating virtual and physical delegations to third countries to facilitate supply chain restructuring.
- Sharing best practices to incentivize and support reorientation of supply chains to reliable partners.
- Developing supply chain resilience in like-minded priority regions, such as India, ASEAN, and the Visegrad Group, which will collectively reinforce the Taiwan New Southbound Policy and U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy.
