Managing the Tide: Foreign Trade and Commerce Offices in Taiwan

October saw yet another successful L.I.V.E (Leadership, Innovation, Vision, Entrepreneurship) event hosted by NTU’s GMBA on October 4. The conversation this time around, titled “Managing the Tide: Foreign Trade and Commerce Offices in Taiwan,” centered on the highly relevant topic of Taiwan’s international trade and business, and took place in the grand GIS Convention Center on the NTU campus. We were incredibly lucky to have five esteemed guest speakers grace the panel that night.

Christian Fuchssteiner, Director of the Austrian Commercial Office, started off the night with a bang by delivering a presentation loaded with interesting facts and information about bilateral trade and the popular vacation destination of the Taiwanese people in Austria. Eliza Chui (徐佩儀), Deputy Director and Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner of the Australian Office, not only enlightened us with pertinent information regarding Taiwan-Australia relations, but also warmly extended invites to fun, exciting cultural events hosted by the Australian Office here in Taiwan. Yachien Huang (黃雅倩), Executive Director of the Australia and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, added to the conversation on Australia with her own insights in her lively, engaging presentation style.

Executive Director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, Steven Parker, somehow managed to impart information regarding Taiwan-UK relations while keeping the audience laughing throughout his presentation. Last but not least, Don Shapiro, Senior Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, wowed us with decades worth of experience garnered within the industry.

The audience consisted of not only GMBA students, but exchange students, faculty members, and people from outside the NTU community as well. All were impressed by the speakers’ knowledge and experience, and many stayed behind after the event, eager for a chance to talk to the speakers one on one. It was a wonderfully enlightening experience for all those involved, and set a bar high for the L.I.V.E events to come!

(Source: Yvonne Chen, NTU GMBA Office; Michelle Chao, 2^nd-year NTU GMBA student)