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Official praises school reforms
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-hsiang (施顏祥) hailed Taiwan's successful educational reforms yesterday, which have created numerous entrepreneurs in small and medium-sized enterprises.

Shih made the remarks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum's 10th Small and Medium Enterprises Ministers meeting, which opened yesterday in Thailand.

He said that the number of Taiwan's universities has increased from 50 in 1991 to 139 last year, with the rate of people with higher education surging from 2.27 percent to 4.88 percent.

Meanwhile, in his speech in the opening ceremony, Thai Minister for Industry and SMEs, Somsak Thepsuthin, indicated that small and medium-sized companies play an important role in Asia and the Pacific region as they account for 98 percent of total enterprises in the area.

Administration reviews rules
The Economic Processing Zone Administration is thoroughly reviewing and redrafting its regulations to conform to the requirements for inclusion in free-trade port zones, Director-General Joseph Y. Chou (周嚴) said yesterday.

Chou said the move is aimed at paving the way to upgrade and enhance the functions of Taiwan's economic processing zones (EPZs) in line with the government's goal of building Taiwan into an Asia-Pacific business operations center.

The revisions of the current EPZ regulations are expected to be complete by the end of this month.

Government to boost fishing
The government will help the outlying island of Kinmen develop leisure fishing to give a boost to the declining fishing industry, an official of the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.

Hu Shin-hwa (胡興華), director of council's Fisheries Administration, made the remarks while attending a ceremony to mark the annual "fishermen's day" in Kinmen.

Hu said that Kinmen used to be under military command with little money coming in from other sources, but with the change in the fishing regulations, the government can now help Kinmen map out strategies to enhance its leisure fishing.

Freezer firm to sell A shares
Zhejiang Guo Xiang Industrial Freezer Co has become the first Chinese company with a Taiwanese partner to receive approval to sell yuan-denominated Class A shares in China, the South China Morning Post reported, without citing its source of information.

Guo Xiang, an air conditioner manufacturer, is the second foreign-invested company to receive approval for yuan-share sales from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, it said, citing earlier approval for Japanese venture Ningpo Dongmu New Materials Co.

In the Class B share market, set up for foreigners to buy shares in China companies, Taiwan-based appliance maker Tsann Kuen Enterprise Co (燦坤) sold 3.7 million Hong Kong dollar-denominated shares in 1997, becoming the first offshore company to list in China. Its Class B shares trade on the Shenzhen exchange.

MediaTek posts big sales
MediaTek Inc (聯發科技), the world's largest supplier of semiconductors for DVD players, said July sales rose 52 percent from a year earlier.

Sales rose to NT$2.6 billion (US$77 million) from NT$1.7 billion. Sales increased from NT$2.4 billion in the previous month.

NT dollar clings to greenback
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded unchanged against its US counterpart to close at NT$34.446 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.

Turnover was US$365 million.
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