Chen, Saca visit Taiwan Science Park

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca visited the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) yesterday, a day after the two countries failed to sign a Free Trade Agreement due to sugar quota disputes.

El Salvador has been an important Central American ally for Taiwan. It possesses stable trade relations with the US and has supported Taiwan's bid to enter the UN for a long time.

Saca, accompanied by his wife and senior El Salvador officials, arrived in Taipei on Tuesday for a state visit. In Tainan yesterday, he and Chen attended a briefing on the science park's development and visited production lines.

Taiwan is launching a project to build a Taiwan science park in El Salvador, so the visit was helpful for the Salvadoran officials to better understand Taiwan's high-tech industry, National Science Council Deputy Minister Tai Chein (戴謙) said.

Southern Taiwan Science Park has attracted 191 investors, provided 45,000 job opportunities and boasts an estimated yearly production value of NT$500 billion for this year, Tai said.

The two presidents also visited several high-tech companies in the park, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子).