India to work with Taiwan for peace and prosperity in Indo-Pacific

India is looking forward to working with Taiwan to promote regional peace and stability, the country’s top envoy to Taipei said yesterday at an event to celebrate the upcoming Indian Republic Day on January 26.

There was a “shared attachment to the values of democracy, individual freedom, world peace and global solidarity that bind the 1.4 billion people of India to the 23 million people of Taiwan,” India-Taipei Association Director-General Gourangalal Das said at the event held in Taipei.

Last year was one of rich engagement between India and Taiwan, with the gradual resumption of in-person exchanges and the visits of several senior delegations in both directions. “Bilateral trade figures reached their historic high last year. The positive momentum of Taiwanese investment in India spread to new areas like semiconductors, e-vehicles, and green energy,” Das said.

The year also witnessed the launch of the annual India-Taiwan CEOs’ Roundtable, India-Taiwan SME Forum, and the Taiwan-India Dialogue, three new mechanisms that bring top businesses, creative entrepreneurs, and notable academics from India together, Das said.

“All of this would not have been possible without a strong foundation of friendship between our peoples,” Das said.

“As one of the world’s top five economies, as the emerging engine of the world economy, and as Chair of the Group of Twenty for this year, India looks to work with partners around the world, including Taiwan, to serve as a pillar of peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and the world at large,” Das added.

Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times