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New WTO members welcomed
Taiwan welcomes Cambodia and Nepal's entry into the WTO and will further promote bilateral relations with these two countries, Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) said Thursday.

Lin made the comments at the 2003 WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico, which approved the two countries membership agreements on Thursday.

Lin said that Taiwan is Cambodia's largest capital supplier and one of the first nations to complete bilateral negotiations on its WTO bid.

Lin said that Taiwan-Cambodia relations will be further strength-ened under a freer trade and investment climate after Cambodia becomes a WTO member.

Lin also extended his congratulations to Nepal for completing its WTO bid. Taiwan did not ask for bilateral negotiations with Nepal.

Taiwan eyes new committee
Taiwan has filed an application to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Trade Committee as an observer, trade officials attending the WTO meeting in Cancun said Thursday.

An application has been submitted to the OECD's Center for Cooperation with Non-Members under the name the Independent Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu .

Taiwan joined the OECD Competition Committee as an observer several years ago, the officials said.

China may limit phone imports
China may take steps to limit imports of mobile phones to China by local producers, a move that would benefit companies such as Motorola Inc, the No. 1 seller of cellphones in China, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing officials at the Ministry of Information Industry.

Wang Bingke, director of the ministry's economic-operation unit, said last weekend that there should be fewer imports of handsets, the Journal reported.

Motorola spokeswoman Mary Lamb said limiting imports would be good news for the company. Shirley Yau, a spokeswoman for TCL International Holdings Ltd, one of China's biggest mobile-phone makers, said such a step would reduce competition, the Journal said.

The world's major mobile-phone makers often outsource phones from Taiwanese manufacturers. BenQ Corp (明基), Taiwan's largest cellphone maker, and rivals such as Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), GVC Corp (致福) and Arima Computer Corp (華宇) count all the world's 10-largest mobile phone sellers but No. 1 Nokia Oyj and No. 4 Samsung Electronics Co among their customers.

Taishin Financial eyes HK banks
Taishin Financial Holdings Co (台新金控) said it would not rule out the possibility of buying a Hong Kong lender, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing its branch president in the territory Lin Sheng-ken (林森根).

More Taiwanese banks may consider expanding into the China market by buying a bank in Hong Kong, after Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) on Monday agreed to buy the city's International Bank of Asia, Lin said.

NT dollar dips
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded lower against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.010 to close at NT$34.100 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$449 million.

Traders said the NT dollar may strengthen next week on speculation that demand for the currency will rise after overseas investors purchased more Taiwanese stocks.

"Inflows from overseas are still coming, so the bias is for a stronger NT dollar," said Philippe Chen, a currency trader at Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫), the nation's second-biggest bank by assets.

Agencies
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