Foreign companies willing to invest in Taiwan have promised in the run-up to the 2003 Taiwan Business Alliance Conference slated for Oct. 19 to Oct. 21 in Taipei to channel about NT$136.79 billion (US$ 4.06 billion) worth of capital into the country, according to an official of a conference task force.
As of last Friday, a total of 1,441 company executives -- 563 from foreign companies, 385 from Taiwan-based foreign enterprises and 493 from domestic firms -- had applied to take part in the conference designed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to lure foreign capital to sharpen Tai-wan's competitiveness, the task force official said.
Noting that the number of attendees has exceeded the target set previously, the official said foreign companies have given their assurance that they will inject NT$66.21 billion into 110 investment projects, and have also promised to channel NT$70.57 billion into another 73 investment projects -- bringing the total to around NT$136.79 billion.
The official forecast that the total foreign investment level is expected to continue growing with the approach of the invest-promotion conference.
In addition, Ray Boushie, president of the US-based Crane Aerospace, has met Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) and has expressed his company's hope of setting up an Asia-Pacific business operations center in Taiwan, an official with the ministry's Industrial Development and Investment Center said.
He added that the US company has already opened a production line at the Kaohsiung Export Processing Zone.
The Germany-based Bayer Group and Infineon Technologies AG are among the many world-class foreign concerns that are weighing investment in Taiwan.
The Bayer Group has decided to send officials to take part in the business alliance conference, while Infineon is pondering increasing its investment in a Taiwan-based semiconductor company.
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