To further strengthen its global trade promotion network and to provide better services, TAITRA has set up 46 branches offices abroad and 10 contact points in Mainland China. Together with the overseas offices of the MOEA, TAITRA has developed a comprehensive trade network serving as the eyes and ears of Taiwan companies keen to explore international markets. TAITRA has developed a comprehensive trade network serving as the eyes and ears of Taiwan companies keen to explore international markets. Major Functions of Overseas Offices:
The mission of TAITRA overseas offices is wide-ranging. Instrumental in carrying out numerous and various trade activities, example of their operations are:
- Assisted TAITRA Head Office in carrying out trade missions and exhibitions.
- Initiated and facilitated procurement cases for international firms in Taiwan.
- Collected and reported business snippets to local traders.
- Recruited foreign members for the Taiwantrade.com.tw website.
- Invited buyers to visit Taipei international exhibitions. Taiwan is ranked 14th in the 2014-2015 Global Competitiveness Report and 2nd in the world for its "State of Cluster Development". Taiwan is ranked 13th in the 2014 Annual World Competitiveness Yearbook and 4th in the Asia-Pacific region. Taiwan is the second largest producer in the world for computer hardware, and occupies over 70% of the market share for semiconductor, photoelectric, and information & communication products. Its silicon wafer foundry industry has reached 67.4% of global production capacity and ranks number one in the world, alongside its downstream assembly and testing industries. Taiwan's IC design industry, which occupies 21.5% of total global production capacity, and high-density TFT-LCD production capacity are the second largest worldwide, and Taiwanese PC production capacity currently ranks third in the world. Taiwan's bicycle, hardware, yacht-building, weaving, and mechanics sectors are all global leading industries. They derive their competitive advantage from the Taiwanese government's systematic promotion of "industry clusters," which allow mutually supportive industry chains to be established and enable clusters to innovate and increase their production quality and capacity. Taiwan's advanced medical industry is renowned
throughout the world for state-of-the-art products and services. CNN, the Global Post and the Richest have all placed Taiwan in the top 10 worldwide for premium medical services. As many as 14 out of the 200 top medical institutions worldwide are located in Taiwan,
enabling Taiwan to rank third globally and first in Asia. Aside from biotechnology, medicine and medical care, Taiwan is also proactively fostering the industries related to culture & creativity, tourism, green energy and agriculture.