Audrey Tang, the Minister of Digital Affairs, met with Paul Scully, Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy of the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on June 14th, local time, in the UK. The two sides exchanged views on data governance, digital signatures, and cloud policies, and agreed to continue discussions on future cooperation opportunities.

Minister Tang pointed out that data free flow with trust is the top priority for cross-border collaboration. Only by promoting privacy-enhancing technologies and guiding e-commerce and logistics companies to fully implement them under the premise of protecting human rights can the risk of personal data leakage be reduced and the foundation of non-personal data free flow with trust be established. The two sides also agreed on the importance  of advancing innovation and promoting data access and usage, including with privacy-enhancing technologies.

During the meeting, the two sides enjoyed a first exchange of  views on digital signatures. Minister Tang said that Taiwan launched the Electronic Signatures Act in 2000 and has already developed a mature certification operation mechanism. As the competent authority, the Ministry of Digital Affairs (moda) is committed to studying and analyzing how to use digital certification technology to promote equal and reciprocal digital signatures with other countries for mutual recognition, so as to enhance the convenience of business activities between Taiwan and other countries.

In addition, Minister Tang said that in order to strengthen digital resilience, Taiwan is gradually promoting cloud backup of systems that do not involve sensitive data, so that all agencies can provide a more flexible, convenient, and secure service environment to the public. Finally, Minister Tang hoped that the two sides could further exchange ideas and cooperate in the future to jointly address emerging challenges and achieve digital resilience for all.

The same afternoon, the moda’s delegation also met with the UK’s Government Digital Service (GDS) to exchange views on open source digital public goods, digital identity, and generative artificial intelligence.

Minister Tang said that the UK has a comprehensive system for government service design, and the visit was very beneficial; on the other hand, GDS was impressed by Taiwan’s extensive experience in data governance. Minister Tang welcomed more exchanges between the two sides to promote future digital cooperation in government services.