Government urges more investment in El Salvador

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 (陳瑞隆) said Taiwan and El Salvador have close trade and economic relations. Taiwan will start free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with El Salvador later this year and if the two countries sign an FTA, El Salvador will become a crucial link for Taiwan's globalization.

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 (陳水扁) during his visit to the nation's allies in Central America last year.

The Taiwan Park, a brainchild of Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), is being planned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Science Council, based on the model of the Southern Taiwan Science Park.