Taiwan will extend by a year the trial period of visa-free privileges to the Philippines and two other Southeast Asian nations until July 31, 2019.
Filipinos can stay in Taiwan for up to 14 days under the visa-free program that started on Nov. 1, 2017 and would expire on July 31, 2018. Thai and Brunei citizens, on the other hand, are allowed to stay in Taiwan for up to 30 days.
Jessie Tseng, executive director of Meet Taiwan, said her government would like to improve cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, as Taiwan brings to life the new Southbound Policy.
Meet Taiwan is the country’s promotion program for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions.
“We received many positive feedback during our first visit last year. This year, we come back again. Through Meet Taiwan, we want to expand our coverage to understand more about Taiwan’s Mice events. Last year was our first time to host a networking event in Manila,” Tseng said during a special visit to Manila recently.
Meet Taiwan aims to strengthen the country’s position as a leading provider of Mice opportunities globally and in line with Taiwan’s new Southbound Policy which aims to increase the visibility of Taiwan companies at major events in Asean.
With theme “High Five Taiwan”, the event expands its reach to more industries and businesses to bolster its prospect as the destination-of-choice for incentive travel and business meeting.
“High Five Taiwan! means that we sincerely welcome the Filipino guests to Taiwan! Come and experience Taiwan’s hospitality, warmth, and discover the richness, diversity of MICE events in Taiwan,” said Tseng.
Meet Taiwan will showcase the vast incentive travel choices, sophisticated conference facilities and abundant resources that Taiwan has to offer.
It is expected to hold match-making meetings for companies and their target markets, while also facilitating companies by organizing overseas promotion delegations as a bridge between Mice organizers and corporations.
Taiwan, the 23th largest economy in the world, is the ninth biggest partner of the Philippines when it comes to trade, with $12 billion worth of bilateral trade in 2017, according to Global Trade Atlas.
Host to some 89,000 Filipino workers, Taiwan has been an extensive partner of the Philippines in development cooperation assistance in the fields of agriculture, aquaculture, industrial design, weather forecasting and technical skills training.
According to statistics compiled by the International Congress and Con Association, Taiwan is one of the prime destinations in Asia when it comes to international association meetings.
Meet Taiwan now targets Southeast Asian countries. “These recent years Meet Taiwan has helped networking events in other SEA countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. There’s a variety of incentives offered and we have very qualified and very good Mice players to serve our Filipino friends,” she said.
The annual networking event aims to offer Filipino business travelers information about the vast incentive travel options, top-notch meeting facilities and numerous attracting resources available in Taiwan.
A major investor throughout Southeast Asia, Taiwan has made a strong imprint in a wide variety of industries in the Philippines among them electronics, telecommunications, information technology and construction.
“We are lucky that this is the second time we are promoting Meet Taiwan in the Philippines. The warm welcome and reception is enough for us to come back next year,” Tseng said.