Taiwan and India have held their first working-level talks to formalize an agreement to welcome a batch of 1,000 Indian workers to Taiwan.
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00:00Taiwan's facing a major labor shortage.
00:04The labor ministry says the shortfall of low- and mid-level skilled workers is especially
00:09severe, with the manufacturing sector facing acute shortages.
00:14Last week, Taiwan and India held their first working-level talks to discuss a new labor
00:19agreement meant to address the gaps in Taiwan's workforce.
00:23We expect that the program will begin in a phased and incremental manner.
00:29That means that we will see about 1,000 workers from India in the first batch.
00:36And we expect these workers to be employed in the manufacturing sector.
00:40In February, Taiwan and India signed a memorandum of understanding, paving the way for talks
00:46to bring in workers from India.
00:49Most of them will be recruited through the labor brokers, a process both sides will verify.
00:55It may take a year for the two sides to finalize the details.
00:59But even before the formal talks open, the agreement faced a controversy after a news
01:04article last year claimed that 100,000 Indian workers would arrive in Taiwan.
01:10That sparked a small-scale protest and became the target of an online disinformation campaign
01:15by China.
01:18Taiwan Plus has learned that the reported 100,000 figure was misleading and there was
01:23no formal agreement on the number of workers at the time.
01:27Having overcome initial hurdles, both sides are now confident about sealing the deal.
01:31The government of Taiwan has to address the worries from the society, to be honest.
01:37Because Taiwanese people actually have not been in close contact with the Indian society,
01:43so they don't quite understand the society.
01:46So what the information they got from the media actually is quite biased.
01:52So I think this is a good try to open up for 1,000 Indian migrant workers to come here,
02:00especially in what we call the traditional sectors of manufacturing, so that the Taiwanese
02:06people can know them more.
02:08Both sides are now moving forward to welcome the first batch of workers from India and
02:13help keep Taiwan's economy running.
02:15Adil Brar and Hank Hsu for Taiwan Plus.