In order to strengthen bilateral labor cooperation, Taiwan and the Indian government have signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Promoting Employment of Indian Workers'' after years of negotiations. The virtual signing ceremony took place today (16th) and was conducted by Ambassador Baushuan Ger of Taiwan's representative office in India and Manharsinh Laxmanbhai Yadav, the President of the India-Taipei Association. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in response to this, issued a press release tonight expressing a warm welcome and appreciation. The move is seen not only as a way to alleviate the impact of aging and a declining birthrate on grassroots labor in Taiwan but also as a means to deepen bilateral friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that after years of negotiations to enhance bilateral labor cooperation, Taiwan and India signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Promoting Employment of Indian Workers" today through a virtual platform. Both Taiwan and India will follow the treaty to complete the exchange of documents and subsequent procedures. They will promptly convene working-level meetings to discuss the future execution details, such as the types and quantities of industries Taiwan will open, the source regions of Indian migrant workers, employment qualifications, and recruitment methods. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will coordinate with the Ministry of Labor to carefully consider the execution details and stay in close contact with the Indian government, while also actively seeking opinions from various sectors of society. The process will be gradual, reciprocal, and pragmatic.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that in recent years, Taiwan and India have actively strengthened cooperation in various areas such as economics, trade, investment, technology, healthcare, and education, leading to a steady improvement in bilateral relations. The signing of the labor cooperation memorandum between Taiwan and India not only helps mitigate the impact of aging and a declining birthrate on Taiwan's grassroots labor but also further deepens the mutually friendly and beneficial cooperation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed a high degree of welcome and approval for this development.
Regarding recent media reports that the Taiwan-India labor cooperation memorandum will introduce 100,000 Indian workers and will lead to social problems, among other unfounded content, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified that such information is groundless and deliberately misleading. The discriminatory language used in the reports not only seriously harms Taiwan's image but also appears to be an intentional attempt by certain individuals to influence the warming cooperation between Taiwan and India, impacting the traditional friendship between the two nations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on the public to collectively resist intentional spreading of rumors and misinformation.
〔Liberity Time Net/Reporter Yang Cheng-yu / Taipei Report〕
〔Photo by Bloomberg, synthesized by this newspaper〕