Hu Jong-I, Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), went to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Japan on April 28, where he and Representative Lee Yi-Yang formally announced the founding of a new Agricultural Division. This is an important milestone in the forward progress of the Taiwan-Japan agricultural partnership.

Taiwan and Japan are important agricultural (including fisheries) product trading partners. Japan is one of the top three overseas markets for Taiwanese agriproducts, with nearly 15% of agriproduct exports headed to that country. Japan is also the fourth largest source of Taiwan’s agriproduct imports. Besides vigorous agriproduct trade between the two countries, there are also frequent interactions between different sectors including industries, officials, academics, and researchers, providing a firm foundation for existing Taiwan-Japan agricultural cooperation. The two countries are pursuing even more comprehensive and in-depth mutual understanding and collaboration and building even broader and diversified partnership relations in the field of agriculture, which will be of critical importance to the development of agriculture in both Taiwan and Japan.

The MOA states since the assignment of MOA staff to the Economic Division of TECRO in Japan in 2003, these personnel have continually assisted with and participated in many important tasks. These have included not only facilitating agriproduct trade, but a wide range of other duties. They have assisted in communications between government agencies; arranged inspection and learning tours; helped farmers’, fishermen’s, and business organizations with market development; and facilitated product inspection and testing. They have also been involved in linkages in the area of animal and plant inspection and quarantine; coordinated work in multilateral organizations; and assisted with bilateral agriproduct agreements, maritime rescue/aid actions, and data/information collection. In such ways they have responded to the rapidly changing global agriproduct trade situation. In the new Agricultural Division of TECRO in Japan, they will play an increasingly important role in advancing bilateral agricultural cooperation and bilateral agriproduct trade with Japan.

The MOA explains that it has received approval from the Executive Yuan and support and assistance from relevant ministries (including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Economic Affairs) for the establishment of an Agricultural Division of TECRO in Japan, which will serve as a smooth channel of bilateral communications between agricultural agencies in Taiwan and Japan. The MOA emphasizes that the Agricultural Division of TECRO in Japan is the third overseas office founded by the MOA with specific responsibility for handling agricultural affairs. (The first two were set up in TECRO in the US and the Taipei Representative Office in the EU and Belgium.) It will expand promotion of Taiwan-Japan agricultural cooperation, foster bilateral agriproduct trade, and deepen communications and interactions in various fields including agricultural technology research, disease prevention and detection, and agricultural technology applications, thereby advancing mutual benefits and shared prosperity for agriculture in both countries.

Hu Jong-I, Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), represented the MOA in Japan at the formal announcement of the opening of a new Agricultural Division in the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Japan, where he also delivered remarks. Pictured here are (from left), TECRO Deputy Representative Chou Shyue-yow; Representative Ambassador Lee Yi-Yang; Deputy Minister Hu, and Wang Chin-Yaw, the first chief of the Agricultural Division.