President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), following advice from the four-member economic advisory panel headed by former premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), yesterday vowed to adopt deregulatory measures to revive the economy.
"Acknowledging that Taiwan's economic advantages lie in its development in information technology industries and global logistic capabilities, the government should put in more effort to reinforce the nation's infrastructure by taking on a deregulatory move," Chen said in a written statement after his second meeting with the panel yesterday morning.
Chen, however, did not elaborate, but said that land-use and capital inflow-and-outflow barriers should be removed to allow the market mechanism to prevail.
Chen also vowed to beef up the agricultural sector's competitiveness after hearing a report prepared by the group on the sector's modernization.
"The goal is to develop an export-oriented agricultural sector by singling out a few highly competitive products such as orchids, bell fruit and mangoes to enter overseas markets," Chen said.
According to Siew, the local agricultural sector has been highly disadvantaged by the nation's entry into the WTO.
"An oversupply of agricultural products has resulted in huge price-cuts that have seriously hurt farmers," Siew told a press conference yesterday.
To bolster and add value to the nation's agricultural development, the government should make the facilitation of an international marketing channel to export local products to either overseas markets a priority, Siew said.
A semi-official agricultural export association should also be established to formulate strategies in promoting the nation's agricultural products and conducting international trade negotiations, he added.
The president's economic advisors -- including Chen Po-chih (
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