Francis Liang or Liang Kuo-hsin is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs in 2012-2014. He currently serves as Chairman of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council which, as the foremost non-profit trade promotion organization in Taiwan since 1970, assists Taiwan businesses and manufacturers reinforcing their international competitiveness in all major foreign markets.
Before holding the ministerial post in the MOEA, Liang has held several positions, such as Chief of Staff to the Vice Presidential Office, Head of economic division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States and Deputy Director of Bureau of Foreign Trade of the MOEA. Since joining the government in 1978, Liang has held several key domestic and overseas positions in which he applied his expertise in international economic law and trade negotiations to promote Taiwan’s economic development and expand the overseas markets for Taiwan's export sectors. During his tenure as Vice Minister of Economic Affairs, and concurrently Chief Trade Negotiator, and later as Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs, Liang played instrumental roles in Taiwan's signing of economic agreements with other economies, including the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement in 2010, the bilateral investment accord with Japan in 2011, the Cross-Straits Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement in 2012, the economic cooperation agreement with New Zealand, and the economic partnership agreement with Singapore in 2013. Liang also co-chaired the first three Regular Meetings of the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Committee as Chief Delegate from Taiwan and actively promoted closer Taiwan-US and Taiwan-EU economic and trade relations. In recognition of Liang's achievements, the Ministry of Economic Affairs conferred upon him the Medal of Economic Contribution, First Order, on February 13, 2014, making him the first government official ever to receive the honor.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs">Ministry of Economic Affairs (Republic of China)">Minister of Economic Affairs, R.O.C">Taiwan">R.O.C
During Liang's concurrent tenures as Vice Minister of Economic Affairs and Chief Trade Negotiator, and later as Deputy Minister, Liang played an instrumental role in the signing of the Cross- Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement in 2010, a bilateral investment accord with Japan in 2011, the Cross-Straits Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement in 2012, an economic cooperation agreement with New Zealand and an economic partnership agreement with Singapore in 2013. He also co-chaired the first three Regular Meetings of the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Committee as Chief Delegate from Taiwan, and actively promoted closer economic and trade relations with the US and the European Union.
In February 2014, Liang tendered his resignation from the Ministry citing health reasons. However, he was later appointed as an adviser to the Executive Yuan. In August that year, Liang was appointed the chairman of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council. Since then, Liang has led a team of over 1,200 trained specialists across its Taipei headquarter, 4 domestic branch offices and 60 overseas branch offices worldwide, organizing more than 300 overseas trade promotion events and 40 international trade shows each year.
