Presidential Palace, Taipei, Taiwan

Taiwan has emphasised that the New Southbound policy (NSP) aims to strengthen economic cooperation with ASEAN and South Asian nations. Announcing the New South Bound Policy, President Tsai Ing-wen highlighted that India is the centerstage of New Southbound Policy. From the current bilateral trade with India which is less than $5 billion, Taiwan seeks to double the bilateral trade with India by 2020.

Taiwan president Tsai emphatically stated that New South Bound policy has nothing to do with the geopolitics but It is about the engaging with our partner nations for enhancing trade relations. Fundamentally, the New Southbound Policy is about how Taiwan can play a proactive role in a community of so many close neighbors. "In contrast to some major countries that have geopolitical considerations in the region, the New Southbound Policy's aims are simple. It is about economics, constructive engagement, and mutually beneficial cooperation that further extend to academic as well as cultural exchange" she said in her opening remarks. "I see India not only in terms of as a market but a nation with the greatest of democratic values and talented young population where Taiwan could contribute in terms of aiding towards skill development and opportunity for the bright students of India to come, learn and work in Taiwan", President Tsai stated over the roundtable conference with the foreign journalists in Taipei on Friday 5th May.

"India holds very special place in her heart", as she narrated her personal visit to India in 2012. She took a personal journey to India in 2012 after having lost election." "I was looking for contemplation and finding meanings of life and India could be the place to find some answers", she recalled. "And Yes! I was greatly impressed with the wisdom and the diversity of culture immersed everywhere", she insisted. "I did find some answers", she insists.

President Tsai pointed that the New Southbound Policy is bilateral in nature. "While we encourage Indian students to study and learn advance skill in various fields in Taiwan, we also look forward to send Taiwanese students to visit India and learn ideas as well as assimilate the value and culture of India", she explained.

In the 90s, Taiwan twice undertook southbound policies and laid a solid foundation for growth. After President Tsai Ing-wen took office in May 2016, she decided to launch the New Southbound Policy in response to regional developments and Taiwan's own requirements. This policy is a major part of Taiwan's overall external economic and trade strategy.

Under the New Southbound Policy, Taiwan has prioritized three areas of cooperation with India, based on the Taiwan's competitive advantages and the principal of building mutually beneficial relations. The first area is resource development and talent sharing. The second area is industrial cooperation and the development of domestic markets. And, the third area is in terms of manufacturing capabilities. Taiwan has one of the best manufacturing industries in the world. People all over the world come to Taiwan to learn more about our industries, particularly ICT and technology sectors. As emphasized by the President Tsai that Taiwan has not only sufficient capabilities to fulfill the demand of different markets within the region, our experiences can also help build manufacturing industries in other countries as well.

As per the current statics available, India's bilateral trade volume with Taiwan reached $4.811 billion in 2015, registering a growth rate of -18.6% compared to 2014. Indian exports declined by 24.4% to reach $1,877.8 million as against the figure of $ 2,485.3 million in 2014. Taiwanese exports reached $ 2,933.4 million, as compared to $3,425.7 million in 2014, a decrease of 14.3%.

Taiwan seeks to actively cooperate in the Prime minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' campaign of increasing industrial base and especially in the field of skill development. There are 1200 Indian students who are studying in Taiwan with the help of scholarships offered by Taiwan Economic and cultural center in India. Under the NSP, Taiwan will massively increase the number of scholarships for the Indian students and offer many short term vocational skill development program. Putting India in her priority, she further elaborated, "we are promoting a plan to better develop industrial talent. The government is working to bring in both schools and the private sector to expand cooperation in several fields. The objective of such cooperation is to provide better skills training in the areas that benefit both New Southbound countries and Taiwanese-owned businesses operating both here and overseas, especially in Southeast Asia and India is our focus country".

Taiwan has had one of the best ecosystem of micro, small and medium-sized (SMEs) enterprise across with sustainable capacity building and mechanism developed over the time while dealing with the industries across Asia, Europe and the US. India can much integrate and establish the clusters along with the help of Taiwanese expertise. Another critical area is the maritime collaboration with India. The leader in navigational technology, Taiwan is ready to collaborate and set up R& D base in India. While, we are scouting for critical requirement in this defense, where else could we look for in this space when we remain the net- importer and straining our expenditure.

Though India has never been an easy market to explore and invest. The challenges remain the same. First, signing Free Trade Agreement with Taiwan remains the bottleneck even though India looks forward under 'Act East' policy. It needs to be address as soon as possible. Second, the need to create a free zone: call it Taiwan village for the Taiwanese companies; especially for the small scale and medium enterprise to flourish in an environment. They will never be in the position to go through the grinding of our cumbersome regulatory demands. Issues like land acquisitions and approvals from regulatory bodies are still among the greatest challenges one can face in India to start a labor-intensive enterprise.

While India seeks to address the critical issues related to increasing the manufacturing base and skill developing for the youth of India, it is the time to actively seek engagements and remove barriers for enhancing trade relation with India.