German Trade Office Taipei (GTO)

German Trade Office Taipei (GTO)
	File:AHK Taiwan Logo.jpg
Type	incorporated association
ISIN	🆔
Founded 📆	1981
Founder 👔
Headquarters 🏙️	19F-9, No. 333, Keelung Rd., Sec. 1, Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan
Area served 🗺️
Key people	Dr. Roland Wein, Director
Members
Number of employees	14
🌐 Website	www.taiwan.ahk.de
📇 Address
📞 telephone
	;

The German Trade Office Taipei (GTO) (German: Deutsches Wirtschaftsbüro Taipei, Chinese: 德國經濟辦事處) was founded as an official foreign representative organization in 1981 by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) in order to promote and assist the expansion of bilateral trade and investment between Germany and Taiwan and represent the interests of German companies in Taiwan.

Organisation

The GTO is a non-commercial foreign representative office of German business in Taiwan. It is the main contact for German companies in Taiwan, gathers and processes relevant economic data and information concerning Germany and Taiwan, informs about investment opportunities and organizes seminars as well as networking events and business forums. The GTO does not offer a membership.

DEinternational

DEinternational is the service brand of all foreign representative offices and provides commercial services under the auspices of the foreign representative offices. DEinternational Taiwan Ltd. organizes business delegations and market exploration trips, represents German trade fair organizations, supports the bilateral market entry and offers professional training, office-in-office and other services. DEinternational Taiwan Ltd. is financed mainly by offering paid services.

History

Foundation and first years

In 1981, following the official authorization of the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to found the GTO Taipei, the first Director Peter Lemke started his work in a room of the Grand Hotel. Barely a year later, the first GTO-organized event took place, dealing with the topics of technology transfer and patent law. With its expansion in 1986, the GTO moved from the Grand Hotel to the Empire Building at Song Jiang Street. In the same year the first delegation from Hamburg, Germany, visited Taiwan. In 1988, the first Taiwanese-German Joint Business Council Meeting with 59 German participants took place. With 32 German companies being present and 7,000 visitors, the one-week event was the largest presentation of German companies in Taiwan until then. In 1989 the GTO moved to Min Sheng East Road.

1990-2000

1990 was an eventful year with the first joint venture of a Taiwanese and a German company, the first event organized by the GTO for the Day of the German Unity, the first conference to promote the new federal states of Germany as an investment location and the first Taiwanese delegation visiting the new federal states of Germany with 40 Taiwanese company representatives. In 1991 the GTO became the representative of the Messe Berlin. Henceforth the GTO also took over the representation of Messe München, Messe Frankfurt, NürnbergMesse and Leipziger Messe. In the following years high-ranking German representatives visited the GTO repeatedly, amongst others Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs Jürgen Möllemann, Federal Minister of Economic Affairs Günter Rexrodt and State Secretary Werner Birner.

2000-2010

In 2000 the German Institute Taipei was founded as the Representative Office of Germany in Taiwan. The German Institute took over all legal and consular tasks that had been managed by the GTO until then. In cooperation with the Taiwanese Council of Labour Affairs the “Tai-Ger Project” for the introduction of the German dual vocational training was launched in 2003 and successfully concluded in December 2010. In 2004 the GTO organized the product show “GerMany Styles” for the first time in Far Eastern Department Stores in Taipei, Hsinchu, Tainan and Kaohsiung. In 2008 the first issue of the digital newsletter “InfoBrief Taiwan” was published, since then it has been published weekly, informing about the most recent developments in the Taiwanese economy and bilateral economic relations with Germany.

Since 2010

The Chinese Newsletter about Germany „Infobrief Germany“ was launched in 2010 and has been published quarterly since then. In the same year, the GTO moved to the currently used office located in the [[Taipei World Trade Center|International Trade Building, in the center of Taipei’s economic and financial district. In 2011 the GTO celebrated its 30th anniversary and the continuous good business relations between Taiwan and Germany.

German representatives visiting the GTO Taipei

Über die Jahre wurde das DWB regelmäßig von hochkarätigen Vertretern der deutschen Wirtschaft besucht:

Year	Name	Function at the time of the visit
1992	Jürgen Möllemann	Vice-Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs
1994	Günter Rexrodt	Federal Minister for Economic Affairs
1995	Werner Birner	State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs
1997	Günter Rexrodt	Federal Minister for Economic Affairs
2006	Dr. Bernd Pfaffenbach Dr. Michael Fuchs Prof. Dr. Heinrich von Pierer	State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs President of the Taiwan Committee of German Economy Chairman of the supervisory board of Siemens AG and Federal Commissioner for Foreign Investments
2010	Dr. Hans-Joachim Otto	State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs
2011	Dr. Hermann Otto Solms Dr. Hans-Joachim Otto	Vice-Chancellor of the German Bundestag State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs
2013	Stefan Kapferer	State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs

Publications

InfoBrief Taiwan

A weekly German e-newsletter which informs about the latest developments in the Taiwanese economy and different industries as well as upcoming events.

InfoBrief Germany

A quarterly Chinese e-newsletter which offers information about the German economy, German industries, renewable energy trends and upcoming events.

CompanyDirectory Taiwan

Published biannually since 2009, the CompanyDirectory provides detailed information about German invested companies and their business activities in Taiwan. As of January 2015 there are 250 German companies in Taiwan.

BusinessFocus Taiwan: Steuern in Taiwan

A comprehensive guide for German companies providing detailed advice on tax-related issues in Taiwan.

BusinessFocus Taiwan: Unternehmensgründung

Provides comprehensive information about the Taiwanese Company Law and regulations concerning company foundation.

References

German Trade Office Taipei (2006). 25 Jahre Deutsches Wirtschaftsbüro Taipei. Taipei, Taiwan: German Trade Office Taipei. Search this book on
German Trade Office Taipei (September 2013). CompanyDirectory Taiwan. German Companies in Taiwan 2013/2014. German Trade Office Taipei. Search this book on
"German Trade Office Taipei: About Us". German Trade Office Taipei. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
"DEinternational, Service Brand of the German Chamber Network". The German Chamber Network. Retrieved 27 January 2015.

External links

This article "German Trade Office Taipei" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.