Companies from the service sector yesterday launched an association that will strive to boost the sector's output value to account for 71 percent of the nation's GDP by 2008, from 68 percent at present.
Addressing participants in a ceremony yesterday to mark the establishment of the Association of Service-Industry Development Taiwan (
He said the nation should not depend solely on export-driven manufacturing to sustain economic development, because growth prospects in the service sector look much more promising.
"The service sector has become a crucial industry for Taiwan ... therefore we are delighted to see the formation of the association, which will provide a platform for the government and companies to exchange views on how to keep improving the industry," the premier said.
At yesterday's inauguration, members of the association elected Wang Kuo-an (
Wang said he plans to combine members' resources with those of the government to promote a knowledge-based industry capable of creating more value.
In the past, Taiwan's economy has depended heavily on the high-tech sector, but the service industry is currently making a bigger contribution to the nation's GDP, Wang said.
People working in the service sector account for 57.9 percent of the nation's job market, Wang said.
For the nine months to last month, the nation's trade surplus dropped to US$1.94 billion, down 69.5 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance reported yesterday.
The dwindling trade surplus may become a long-term trend, which would devastate an export-dependent economy, Wang said.
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