■ Asian consumers upbeat
Consumers in most of Asia are optimistic about the region's prospects as economies grow and job prospects improve, according to a MasterCard International survey. "Consumer confidence over the outlook for the rest of the year is relatively strong in the region," MasterCard's economic adviser, Yuwa Hedrick-Wong (王月魂), said at a press conference yesterday in Hong Kong. "Strong economic and employment growth is certainly a key factor." Consumers are optimistic in 10 of 13 markets in the survey. Positive sentiment should support "double digit" growth in retail sales, outbound travel and household spending, Wong said. Confidence in Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Singapore, Korea and Japan improved from six months ago. Consumers in Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand were less optimistic. The twice-yearly survey interviewed 5,440 consumers in 13 markets from May 3 to May 29.
■ Competitiveness at risk: Shih
Taiwan needs to further expand its technological edge over other countries, or its current advantage may last only another five to 10 years, Acer Group Chairman Stan Shih (施振榮) said Wednesday. Addressing the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei on how to strengthen Taiwan's competitiveness, Shih pictured the future Taiwan as "the digital life-enabling center in Asia." Shih said Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu should become Taiwan's "corridor of science and technology" in a bid to attract talent from all over the world to set up businesses there. In his view, it is important to stay close to the market to provide a motive for innovation. In addition, Taiwan needs to improve its relationship with China to create a more attractive environment for multi-national enterprises. Shih said that another way to increase Taiwan's competitiveness is for the next generation to be able to speak better English than their parents.
■ Merck buys rights to drug
Merck KGaA, Germany's fourth-largest drugmaker, bought most of the global rights to a Taiho Pharmaceutical Co (大鵬藥品) colon-cancer treatment to get another oncology product to market alongside its Erbitux cancer medicine. The drug, called UFT, is an orally administered chemotherapy given to patients whose cancer has spread, Darmstadt-based Merck said in a statement. Taiho will keep rights in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, Merck said, without giving financial terms of the agreement.
■ Labor limits may be scrapped
The government is planning to scrap the current six-year stay limit for foreign workers in response to industry groups' suggestions, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday. The Council of Labor Affairs' proposal to abolish the stay limit for foreign workers by the end of this year is expected to help local businesses cut hiring and training costs, the paper said. The plan would benefit nearly 15,000 local manufacturers, the paper added. Currently, foreign workers can be hired to work in Taiwan for a period of three years and can be extended by one term, or a total of six years.
■ Taiwan dollar up for third day
The New Taiwan dollar strengthened for the third day in four after the benchmark stock index climbed to its highest in almost 15 months, raising speculation foreign investors will accelerate buying of equities. The NT dollar rose NT$0.062 to close at NT$31.917 against its US counterpart on the Taipei foreign exchange market, on turnover of US$782 million.
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