Taiwan vows to invest in Lithuania's cyber security – Tang - BNS SPECIAL

VILNIUS – Taiwan has plans to work with Lithuania in the area of cyber and internet security, says Taiwan's Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang who visited Lithuania last week.

In her words, Taiwan's National Institute of Cyber Security may decide on investing in Lithuania's cyber security as early as this week.

"As the chair of the board, I will share the stories of my Lithuanian visit, I will talk to the board of the National Institute of Cyber Security of the closeness in values and the thriving start-ups and unicorns that I met in Lithuania, and together in the board meeting we will decide how much investments we will do," she said in an interview with BNS.

Both Lithuania and Taiwan have good cyber security service companies and both countries have an international reputation in this area, she said, adding that this cooperation will be based on public-private partnerships and cooperation with the population.

Lithuania's Economy and Innovation Minister Ausrine Armonaite says Lithuania is an "EU champion" in the area of financial technology and is looking forward to working with Taiwanese companies. Tang confirmed the potential for the two countries to work together in this sector as well as doing so in the information technology sector. 

Taiwanese IT and fintech companies' specific plans and investment decisions on Lithuania could be expected after a meeting of representatives of these sectors, Tang said, adding that a Lithuanian IT business delegation is scheduled to visit Taiwan later this year.

"I think what they (Taiwanese IT and fintech companies – BNS) are now planning is, first, to meet with Lithuanian innovators face-to-face. We will strive to organize sometime this year a delegation of ICT representatives, including fintech entrepreneurs, from the Lithuania community to visit Taiwan, to build bridges with investors and local start-ups and unicorns in Taiwan to make sure that they can find compatibility with them," the Taiwanese minister said.

Taiwan also plans to work with Lithuania in improving the use of e-signature within the countries' different systems, which could cut the costs of financial transactions between Lithuanian and Taiwanese companies, she said.

Taiwan is also interested in Lithuania's experience in storing government data in other countries and also cloud storage, Tang said.