Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with its eSwatini counterpart to work together toward fair market competition.
FTC Chairwoman Huang Mei-ying and Thabisile Langa, chief executive officer of eSwatini's Swaziland Competition Commission, inked the MOU, agreeing to cooperate on the implementation of their fair trade laws.
Under the MOU, the two diplomatic allies will seek to crack down on cross-border cartel practices, exchange anti-trust information and consult with each other on protections.
At the signing ceremony, Huang said the FTC had received assistance from its foreign counterparts in the past to facilitate fair market competition and is now strong enough to offer similar help to other countries.
In June, the FTC sent a team to eSwatini, one of Taiwan's 17 diplomatic allies, to help set up a legal mechanism for implementing fair market competition and to train law enforcement officers there in that regard, Huang said.
Such exchanges not only help boost trade ties but also forge closer friendships between allies, she said.
eSwatini is the first African country and the ninth in the world to sign a fair trade MOU with Taiwan, after Australia, New Zealand, France, Mongolia, Canada, Hungary, Panama and Japan.
The FTC said it is in talks with several other countries to sign similar agreements, but it did not give any further details.
According to the FTC, cross-border cartels can destabilize the global economy, which is why it is important to establish bilateral and multilateral cooperation to crack down on them.
