The Kaohsiung Free Trade Harbor Zone, which recently received approval from the Executive Yuan to be established at Kaohsiung Harbor, has begun to woo investors and foreign capital, harbor sources said yesterday.
A business workshop is scheduled to be held at Kaohsiung's Grand Hi-Lai Hotel tomorrow to give potential investors a better understanding of the free-trade harbor zone's competitive advantages and the benefits to investors of operating in the zone, officials said.
Many companies in the shipping, manufacturing, processing and distribution sectors have shown a keen interest in starting operations in the zone, the officials said.
The free-trade harbor zone, which offers the advantages of free movement of workers, commodities, capital and technologies, as well as duty-free and tax exemption incentives, is seen as being highly attractive particularly to Chinese, Hong Kong and Macau businesspeople and companies maintaining operations in the cross-Taiwan Strait area and the Asia-Pacific region, the officials said.
The zone is also expected to attract foreign capital and companies as it is an excellent location for the establishment of regional operations headquarters and container distribution centers, the officials added.
With the establishment of the Kaohsiung Free Trade Harbor Zone, as well as the Keelung Harbor free trade zone, the Taoyuan Air Cargo Industrial Park and other export processing zones around the country, it is expected that Taiwan will house the operations headquarters of some 300 multinational companies by the end of the year, up from 186 at the beginning of this year, Council for Economic Planning and Development officials have said.
Altogether, these free-trade harbor zones are expected to attract at least NT$5.5 billion (US$167 million) worth of investment.
Council Vice Chairwoman Ho Mei-yuei (
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