The nation's representative to the WTO, Lin Yi-fu (林義夫), yesterday called for Taiwanese entrepreneurs operating in the US to help drum up US support for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
Lin made the appeal while delivering a speech on the WTO and the government's role in the Geneva-based world trade regulatory body at a board meeting of the Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce of North America in Dallas, Texas.
Lin, who arrived in Dallas on Thursday to attend the meeting from Friday to yesterday, said Taiwan was engaging in negotiations with the US about signing an FTA, which he said would benefit Taiwanese companies.
He voiced optimism that all US-based Taiwanese corporations would join forces with the government to lobby for an FTA between the two nations to be signed as soon as possible with the goal of boosting bilateral trade and economic relations.
The US is Taiwan's third-largest trade partner after China and Japan, with bilateral trade reaching US$55.02 billion last year.
The US has been reluctant to launch talks on a trade and investment framework agreement, a stepping stone toward an FTA, because it says Taiwan's intellectual property rights protection is poor. It is also unhappy about Taiwan's rice import quotas and limitations on access to Taiwan's pharmaceutical market.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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