After 13 years in the same office space, AmCham has now started our office renovation. The staff have all moved down into the 6th floor Lincoln Room while the 7th floor main office undergoes a major renovation. Our temporary office resembles a tech startup – very cozy and intimate. The renovation will be complete early next year, and we look forward to welcoming members to the new office then. 

I am sure most of you watched the U.S. Presidential election last week and I would like to thank those who attended the live Bloomberg coverage from our Taipei office. It was a good event, but afterward it took a few more days before we found out (more or less definitively) that we will be getting a new administration in Washington.

AmCham has gone on record to say that whether the administration is Democrat or Republican, we believe the American policy toward Taiwan will remain mostly the same. Now with the election over, the proof will be in the pudding. We will begin to reach out to members of the new U.S. government as soon as we find out who the relevant appointees are. Our goal is still to have Taiwan and the U.S. enter into a bilateral free trade agreement and we will continue to work with the various U.S. and Taiwan-based groups that share this objective.        

Business leaders will have also received an invitation to fill out our latest annual Business Climate Survey. This year’s survey is slightly expanded to cover business leaders’ views on the effects of COVID-19 and the resultant trend for many companies to have some employees working from home. Please take time to fill out the survey when you receive it.  We will announce the results early next year.

It seems November is a great month for elections. Ballots to select next year’s Board of Governors and Supervisors have been sent to the voting members of AmCham company voting members in advance of the annual general meeting (AGM) later this month. We are again honored to have President Tsai as our keynote speaker, and AIT Director Christensen will also attend. The strong support from the Taiwan and U.S. government at the AGM is testament to AmCham’s strength in the community. The AmCham staff has done an excellent job in developing these relationships, and it is the reason we have been so effective in our advocacy efforts. 

We wish all the candidates good luck in the election and we look forward to working with the new Board!