ECCT Premium Event

Meet the new EETO team

Guest speakers
Lutz Güllner, Head of the European Economic and Trade Office
Lukáš Gajdoš, Deputy Head of the European Economic and Trade Office
Christoph Saurenbach, Head of Trade Section of the European Economic and Trade Office

Date & Time: Tuesday, 12 November 2024, 12:00-14:00
Venue: 2F, The Residence, Grand Hyatt Taipei / 台北君悅酒店2樓凱寓
Address: 2 Songshou Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City / 台北市信義區松壽路2號

The European Economic and Trade Office, the EU’s official representative to Taiwan, has recently welcomed a whole new team of senior officials, including a new head of office, deputy head and head of trade section. This event has been arranged to introduce the new team to ECCT members, to learn about their ongoing activities and future plans and ambitions for EU-Taiwan relations and exchanges in the areas of trade, investment, research, innovation, environment, culture and education.

Among other topics, the new EETO colleagues will give an overview over their first impressions of Taiwan and present their views on:
• The political and business environment
• EU-Taiwan trade and investment relations
• Outcomes of recent EU-Taiwan dialogues.

Following their presentations, EETO colleagues will participate in a Q&A session where members will be free to ask questions. This event provides an ideal opportunity to engage in an open exchange of ideas and to discuss cooperation opportunities between the EETO and the ECCT.

About the speakers
Lutz Güllner was appointed Head of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan as of 1 September 2024. He is a senior career diplomat in the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s diplomatic service. He specialises in economic and trade relations, as well as security issues. Prior to his current posting, he served as the Head of Division for Information Integrity and Countering Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference at the EEAS, where he was the lead on issues related to disinformation and foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI). From 2003 to 2017, he served in different functions in the European Commission's Directorate General for Trade (DG Trade), where he worked on bilateral relations with the United States and Russia, communications, as well as trade strategy and planning. In 2009 and 2010, he was spokesperson for the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton. Before joining the European Commission in 2003, he worked as public affairs consultant in Brussels.

Lukáš Gajdoš was appointed as Deputy Head of the EETO in September 2024. His previous positions include Deputy Head of Mission of the Delegation of the European Union to ASEAN, Deputy Head of the Mission of the European Union to ASEAN, Third Secretary (Political) of the Embassy of the Slovak Republic to the People’s Republic of China and Desk Officer of the Department for East Asia and the Pacific for the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic.

Christoph Saurenbach joined the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan in September 2024 as the Head of Trade Section. Prior to his current role, he worked as the Team Leader in the Far East Unit at DG Trade from October 2023 to August 2024. Before that, he worked on the EU’s response to Russia’s war on aggression against Ukraine in DG ECHO from 2022 to 2023, where he focused on international coordination of humanitarian aid. From 2015 to 2022, he served in different diplomatic functions, including as Head of the Economic and Trade Section at the EU Delegation to Colombia and Ecuador, and in the Trade Section of the EU Delegation to China. Between 2013 and 2015, he worked as a Policy Officer for Trade Defence Strategy at DG Trade.

NT$ 1,800 for members and NT$ 2,600 for members' guest(s)

*To cancel without penalty, written cancellations must be received by 2024/11/7.

**About 48 hours before the event, you will receive another email that will contain a QR code, which will enable you to register at the event using your mobile device.

Contact: Fiona Lee
Tel: 2740-0236 ext. 216 / Fiona.lee@ecct.com.tw