■ Trade
TAITRA to launch fruit drive
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) will launch a publicity drive this year to promote local fruit in major markets, including Japan and Hong Kong, TAITRA officials said yesterday. The officials said the focus will be to strengthen the international marketing and image of the nation's agricultural products, with plans to step up publicity in targeted markets. They said the image design and packaging will feature mangoes and bananas. TAITRA will place advertisements in the Hong Kong International Airport, Japan's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as well as in major subway stations and commercial districts in Hong Kong and Japan, they said. TAITRA has established marketing bases in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Shanghai and Beijing to promote the marketing drive, they said.
■ Energy
Taipower hails green plan
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) has devised a long-term plan for greater use of alternative and renewable energy sources, including hydro-electricity, wind power and solar energy, in the face of skyrocketing international fuel prices, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced. Taipower's thermal power plants in Changhua, Linkou and Keelung have filed proposals to develop more alternative energy sources. The proposals are now undergoing environmental impact reviews by the Environmental Protection Administration, the ministry said. With the development of alternative energy technologies reaching maturity, the cost of utilizing these sources of energy has decreased significantly, making them more viable than before, the ministry said.
■ Economy
Euro zone growth set to rise
Economic growth in the euro zone will increase in the first three months of this year, despite a weak performance by France and Germany at the end of last year, a top EU official said on Friday. "We continue to believe the economy is in a good trend," Joaquin Almunia, European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, told Dow Jones Newswires in Moscow. "Our impression about the first quarter is still positive," he said. Figures released on Friday showed the French economy grew just 0.2 percent in the last quarter of last year, while Germany's statistics agency indicated that its economy -- the euro zone's largest -- may have been stagnant. Those figures could raise doubts about the sustainability of the euro-zone economy recovery as the European Central Bank raises interest rates.
■ Airline industry
Air China seeks share issue
Beijing-based Air China Ltd (中國國際航空) said on Friday it had applied to list 2.7 billion shares on the Shanghai stock exchange to finance the purchase of aircraft. The airline, which is listed on the Hong Kong and London bourses, said it would seek Chinese market regulators' approval for a yuan-denominated A share issue equivalent to nearly 29 percent of its existing issued share capital. The notice to the Hong Kong exchange did not say how much the company wanted to raise, but net proceeds from the listing will be used to finance a previously announced purchase of 45 aircraft. The money will also be spent on improving facilities at its Beijing base. Air China chairman Li Jiaxiang (李家祥) said the company expects to pay no more than US$5.68 billion for all of the aircraft, while the development of the Beijing facility will cost about 600 million yuan (US$74 million).
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