DUSHANBE, December 12, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- An official presentation of a branch office of the Taiwan Trade Center (Taiwan External Trade Development Council or TAITRA) in Dushanbe took place at the end of last week.

According to Tajikistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), the ceremony was attended by representatives from a number of Tajik companies and organizations.

The CCI deputy head, Asanali Karamaliyev, noted at inaugurating ceremony that one of the main tasks of the CCI was in seeking partners for its members and organization of economic and industrial exhibitions of other countries in Tajikistan.

Representative of the Taiwan Trade Center in Almaty (Kazakhstan), Ms. Toty Raisova, noted that the TAITRA has 55 overseas branch offices worldwide.  “The Taiwan Trade Center in Almaty has operated for already eight years and it is dedicated to help businesspeople from Kazakhstan and Central Asia participate at exhibitions and fairs that are annually organized in Taipei, Taiwan,” Raisova said, noting that the branch office recovers travel expenses and the cost interpreter services.

Noting that a business forum with participation of Taiwanese companies is annually held in Almaty, Ms. Raisova invited Tajik businesspeople to attend the upcoming forum.

The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) is a non-profit government co-sponsored trade promotion organization in the Republic of China founded in 1970. TAITRA assists Taiwan businesses and manufacturers to reinforce their international competitiveness and to cope with the challenges they face in foreign markets.

According to Wikipedia, over the past decades, TAITRA has developed trade promotion, and it has an information network consisting about 850 trained specialists stationed in its headquarters in Taipei, four local branch offices in Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, over 44 overseas branch offices worldwide.  Cooperating with Far East Trade Services, Inc. (FETS) and the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC), its sister organizations, TAITRA has striven to adapt its trade promotion strategies to the changing international conditions.  Its major functions include: market research & information service; market development; exhibition & convention service; trade education; and web service.