WTO to hold meeting in Taiwan
The WTO has decided to hold a senior officials' meeting on trade negotiation skills for the first time in Taiwan March 24 to March 28, according to officials of the Taiwan delegation based at the world trade regulatory body.
The meeting will be sponsored by the WTO Secretariat, and 29 member states and observer countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Singapore, South Korea and China, each will send one senior official to take part in the meeting in Taipei.
The WTO will dispatch three senior officials to give lectures. Although the WTO holds more than 400 seminars every year around the world, the Taiwanese delegates said the decision to use Taipei represents the importance it attaches to Taiwan, which entered the WTO in January of last year.
According to the delegates, the meeting will provide a valuable opportunity for the nation to boost its international contacts.
TSMC's sales rise
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday its sales last month rose 9.0 percent from a year ago to NT$13.13 billion (US$376.43 million).
The January figure reflected vigorous shipments as clients were eager to take delivery ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, a company official said.
At its investor conference in January, TSMC did not give any guidance for its first quarter sales.
However the company said it expects its average selling price in the first quarter to fall about 7 percent from the previous quarter, with wafer shipments falling by a single-digit percentage.
Cabinet to mull investment rules
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a proposal to lift restrictions on foreign investment in the rail transportation sector as part of efforts to liberalize the
economy.
"The passage of the proposal displays the government's determination to give the economy a shot in the arm," an official from the Investment Commission said.
Analysts said the move is expected to help attract foreign investment in Taiwan's first high-speed rail project which is now under construction and in the privatization of the Taiwan Railway Administration.
The government also plans to scrap by the end of June a list of industries closed to foreign investment, according to the Council for Economic Planning and Development.
Foreign investment is banned in sectors such as postal savings, free-to-air television broadcasting and road passenger transport.
War may lower ratings: S&P
Standard & Poor's (S&P) Ratings Services said yesterday that war in Iraq could lead to lower sovereign ratings for some countries.
The rating agency said in a article that governments that rely heavily upon commercial cross-border financing may be more at risk than rated sovereigns in the Middle East.
The article states that S&P's current 93 sovereign ratings include as a premise that a war with Iraq would be short and decisive. A longer war would increase the risk in key areas, such as political risk, growth prospects, fiscal flexibility and external finances.
S&P cited countries like Brazil, Israel, Guatemala, Jamaica, Lebanon, Morocco, the Philippines and Turkey would be particularly at risk of lower sovereign ratings.
NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.040 to close at NT$34.815 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$412 million, compared with the previous day's US$591 million.
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