The government will organize a trade promotion delegation to visit Africa in November in view of the increased opening of markets in that part of the world, a Ministry of Economic Affairs spokesman said yesterday.
The mission, to be organized by the Bureau of Foreign Trade, is slated to travel to Morocco, Egypt and Nigeria in late November, and Taiwanese companies in the fields of medical-care equipment, automobile parts and accessories, hardware, and textiles are particularly encouraged to take part in the mission, the ministry official said.
Morocco, which has posted an average annual economic growth rate of 5.5 percent in recent years, has a great demand for machinery equipment, the official said, forecasting that the country is expected to further open its market following the signing of a free trade agreement with the US last week.
Egypt, Taiwan's No. 2 trade partner in Africa, imported US$186 million worth of products last year, according to the official.
He predicted that the second half of this year will present a good opportunity for Taiwanese companies to explore business opportunities in Egypt because Iraq will be boosted with the US-led coalition forces' handing back of sovereignty to the Iraqi people at the end of this month.
Nigeria is a potential market for a wide range of Taiwanese industries because many sectors in that country are in their initial stages of further development, he said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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