Taiwan is probing the possibility of signing a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Paraguay, a government official confirmed yesterday.
The news came after President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen said Taiwanese busi-nesses could use Paraguay as a springboard to tap into the vast Southern Common Market, which is made up of Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. In return, Paraguay will be able to use Taiwan as a bridgehead to explore the Asia-Pacific market.
The two sides signed a joint communique yesterday at the Presidential Office at the end of Duarte's six-day state visit.
Both leaders also confirmed that a bilateral economic cooperation conference will be held in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion in July to further boost trade and economic exchanges.
After signing the joint communique, Chen reiterated his hope that the two countries would be able to sign a free-trade agreement within a year to facilitate bilateral trade, investment and economic cooperation.
Paraguay is the nation's 96th largest trading partner, with bilateral trade volume worth about US$37 million last year.
An official at the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday that Taiwan is waiting for Paraguay's feedback on the proposed free-trade pact.
"Basically, we welcome any country, whether it has diplomatic ties with us or not, to initiate trade talks with us," Chan Lien-hsing (
Taiwan signed its first FTA with Panama last August and expects to sign a second one with Guatemala.
However, the timetable for negotiation was disrupted when the Guatemalan government was reshuffled at the end of last year, Chan said.
The government is also keen to sign an FTA with Japan, and research institutions of both countries are currently conducting feasibility studies for such a pact, Chan said.
The most eagerly sought free-trade partner is the US. However, talks with the US have been de-layed due to the opening of agricultural and pharmaceutical markets, as well as issues related to the protection of intellectual property rights.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last