A presentation to promote investment in an industrial park in El Salvador was held at the Taipei International Convention Center yesterday.
The presentation, sponsored by the Industrial Development and Investment Center under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, was the first of three presentations held in Taiwan to promote investment in the Taiwan Park in the Central American country. Two other presentations will be held in central and southern Taiwan.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (
El Salvador's ambassador, Francisco Ricardo Santana Berrios, said that the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) came into effect last month in his country, making the Taiwan Park the best springboard for Taiwanese businesspeople wanting to make inroads into the American market.
The agreement promotes trade liberalization between the US and the Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. It has not yet come into effect in Guatemala and Costa Rica.
Chen said that after the US-CAFTA comes into effect, agricultural and industrial products exported to the US will enjoy tariff incentives, with textile products enjoying the highest tariff incentive of 32 percent.
The government will also help manufacturers invest in and set up plants in Central America through a "co-prosperity" project that was first broached by President Chen Shui-bian (
The Taiwan Park, a brainchild of Vice President Annette Lu (
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