The ECCT held a full day of meetings with the government to discuss issues raised in the chamber’s 2020 Position Papers, which were published in November 2019. The meetings were arranged by the National Development Council (NDC) and began with opening remarks by NDC Minister Chen Mei-ling and ECCT Chairman Giuseppe Izzo.

Out of an abundance of caution on account of the coronavirus pandemic, a number of precautionary measures were taken to safeguard the health of both ECCT and government participants, based on guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control. This included limiting the number of participants to one representative per committee, taking the temperatures of participants before they entered the venue, sterilising the meeting room, wearing surgical masks, avoiding close contact and seating participants far apart during meetings.

After the opening remarks, representatives from the ECCT’s industry and support committees held a series of discussions with representatives of various government agencies on the government’s official reply to the business issues raised in the papers. The ECCT committees represented were Human Resources, Better living, Mobility, Retail & Distribution, Wind Energy, Agro-Chemical, Cosmetics, Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Healthcare Enhancement.

At the meetings, ECCT delegates asked for clarification from government representatives present on a number of points set out in the official reply with a view towards making further progress. Government officials present undertook to take action on a number of issues. On issues where progress was not made, government agencies agreed to arrange follow-up meetings with the ECCT in the weeks ahead.