Three Taiwanese industry organizations signed letters of intent with Japanese partners on Friday to pave the way for cooperation on technology, marketing and capital.

The signings took place during an investment matchmaking conference for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) from Taiwan and Japan. The event was held by the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs as part of efforts to promote SME cooperation and exchanges with Japan.

Under the agreement forged between the Taiwan Garment Industry Association and the Japan Knitting Industry Association, garment and textile makers from the two countries will seek to connect their upstream, midstream and downstream business segments to jointly engage in research and development.

In another agreement between the Taiwan Association of Logistics Management and the Japanese Material Handling Society, the two sides will combine their resources and advantages to make inroads into the international market.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute will build a liaison with Japan's Tohoku Innovation Capital Corp. to broker partnership between complementary businesses from the two countries and steer investment to niche companies.

According to the Economics Ministry, since the Taiwan-Japan SME cooperation and exchange promoting platform was launched last year, more than 20 cooperation projects worth over NT$400 million (US$13.65 million) have been achieved.

Source: Focus Taiwan