US President George W. Bush offered a powerful economic incentive to the nations of the Arab world on Friday by proposing the creation of a US-Middle East free trade area by 2013.
In a commencement speech to 1,200 graduates of the University of South Carolina, Bush promoted the trade deal as a symbol of American commitment to an Arab world alienated by two American-led wars in two Muslim countries in the last two years, and as a means of bringing stability to a region bypassed by globalization and torn by terrorism.
"The Arab world has a great cultural tradition, but is largely missing out on the economic progress of our time," said Bush, who stood out among the maroon South Carolina robes in a deep blue graduation robe from Yale, his alma mater. The trade deal, he said, would bring the Middle East into an "expanding circle of opportunity."
Bush also said that Secretary of State Colin Powell, who left Friday night for the Middle East, and Robert Zoellick, the US trade representative, would meet with regional leaders in Jordan next month to discuss economic liberalization.
"We will work with our partners to ensure that small and mid-sized businesses have access to capital, and support efforts in the region to develop central laws on property rights and good business practices," Bush said. "By replacing corruption and self-dealing with free markets and fair laws, the people of the Middle East will grow in prosperity and freedom."
Administration officials acknowledged that the idea of creating a free-trade zone that would stretch across North Africa and Asia from the Atlantic faced enormous hurdles.
"This is not something that's going to occur tomorrow," a senior administration official said. Officials noted that the 23-nation region had more trade barriers than any other part of the world and that many of the countries had highly restricted economies. Some of the nations -- Libya, Syria and Iran -- are operating under US economic sanctions.
On Friday a senior administration official said that some nations were clearly more ready than others for joining a Middle East free trade area. The US would work with the countries of the region in a series of graduated steps, the official said, and those that demonstrated sufficient economic and political reform would become eligible for inclusion in the deal.
Officials said that the US government would continue to help countries that demonstrated reforms to become members of the WTO.
Democrats praised Bush's approach as an important step toward pressuring nations in the region to make economic and political reforms, but said it was unclear how far and how quickly the administration was willing to go in lifting trade barriers that hurt the Middle East.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six