Taiwan is keen to pump investments into India, particularly in the Information Technology sector, and hopes the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) would be signed by the year-end to help in this regard.
The East Asian nation, over which China lays its claim,also wants to contribute its expertise in agriculture and food processing in India besides encouraging Indian students to go
for "efficient but cost effective" higher education in Taiwan.
The Taiwanese Representative (Ambassador) in India Wenchyi Ong said trade between India and his country is too meagre because of absence of political and diplomatic relations for long and emphasised the need to give a speedy push to this aspect.
"The economies of India and Taiwan are highly compatible. We have to try to push the economic ties in every way," he said.
"We were late because of the third party," he said referring to China which had been opposing to Taipei having any kind of independent relations with any country as it considers Taiwan as its part.
There was scant interaction between India and Taiwan from 1949 to 1995. The relations got some momentum from 1995 when Representative Offices of the either country were set up in
Delhi and Taipei. Wenchyi noted that Indo-Taiwan trade is just USD 5.3 billion, accounting for mere one per cent of Taiwan's total foreign trade. "This is too little," he said.
The Taiwanese Representative hoped bilateral trade and investment would get a boost once the DTAA is signed. He said three rounds of talks have been held and the proposed agreement is expected to be signed by the year-end.
The DTAA is a building block for the Free Trade Agreement, he said.
Identifying IT as one of areas that have tremendous potential for growth, Wenchyi said Taiwan has expertise in manufacturing while India has excellence in designing and these strengths need to be synergised.
"Through cooperation with Taiwanese companies, India can become a hub of IT manufacturing with Indian brands," he said,
adding he was working in this direction and had held talks with officials of companies like Wipro and HCL.
The Representative, who has been travelling across the country exploring business opportunities for Taiwan, said he had found Gujarat as "the right destination", particularly
considering the "warm response" of the state government and Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Wenchyi said agriculture is another area having potential for cooperation.
"In agriculture technology, we are stronger than Israel,"he said, adding it would be beneficial for boosting growth in India, especially in states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
Taiwan is also ready to offer expertise in the food processing sector. The expertise, he said, could be used in rural areas of India so that losses of food produce during transportation is reduced. Also, it will help create jobs in
rural areas.