ESWATINI’S BID TO HOST TAIWAN TRADE COUNCIL

MBABANE – Eswatini means business.   The kingdom is lobbying the Taiwan Economic Trade Development Council (TAITRA)    TAITRA to set up their Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional office locally.

 “TAITRA is seriously considering setting up in Eswatini. They also agreed to expand the participation of Taiwanese companies during this year’s Eswatini International Trade Fair (EITF), which we launched only last week by at least 30 per cent,” Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo disclosed yesterday.

Reciprocally, Eswatini could also increase its participation in the Taipei Trade Fair to be held in June this year. It was stated that the kingdom intends to occupy a whole pavilion instead of a stand.
It should be mentioned Eswatini, which recently unveiled eight new companies to invest over E1 billion, is set to become the economic hub for Africa, which is earmarked to be among the fastest growing economies globally. The country has also been earmarked to host the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Government’s Economic Turnaround Strategy is already taking shape as the Kingdom has scaled its efforts to promote Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through engaging international strategic partners.
Khumalo is currently in the Republic of China, Taiwan, where he is having a series of meetings aimed at enhancing trade between the two countries. On Monday, the minister met with officials from the TAITRA as well as the Chairperson of the Taiwan Sugar Corporation, Charles Huang.

Meet

He is also due to meet the Taiwan Africa Business Association.
It was also mentioned that discussions with TAITRA were focused on expanding trade across the two countries to optimise the Economic Cooperation Agreement (ECA) by looking for further opportunities and encouraging Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Eswatini.

“We are also requesting technical assistance in designing Eswatini’s economy and infrastructure to effectively support an export-based economy, which is how Taiwan turned its own fortunes around,” added Khumalo.
There are nearly 200 products that could be exported by local businesses to Taiwan under 153 tariff lines courtesy of the Economic Cooperation Agreement (ECA) that was entered into between the two States. 
Taiwan Ambassador to Eswatini Jeremy Liang recently said they were greatly honoured to host the largest ever business delegation from Taiwan in the kingdom to explore business opportunities as part of an initiative that was organised by the Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority (EIPA).

The landmark pact eliminates 153 listed items such as avocados, beef, natural honey, sugar, timber and vegetables.
“The sky is the limit for high quality agricultural products from Eswatini and their popularity will help lift value of the country’s exports to Taiwan,” said Liang during the Taiwan – Eswatini business seminar which was convened at the Royal Swazi Spa early this year.

Attended

The seminar was attended by captains of industry in the kingdom and business representatives from 33 firms in agriculture and food, biotech, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, construction, electronics, metal products and machinery equipment.
Eswatini imported E221 million (US$17 million) worth of goods from Taiwan in 2018 while the country exported a meagre E39 million (US$300 000).

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