The European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan announced yesterday that more talks are needed to bring Taiwan into the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) of the WTO, in part over a compromise that is still possible on the EU's wording concerning Taiwan's status.
At a news conference held to promote the Taiwanese public's understanding of the EU, Guy Ledoux, who assumed his post as the head of the EU office in Taiwan two weeks ago, said: "At the moment we probably haven't found an appropriate formulation but I believe we will be able to with further discussions."
The GPA, a multilateral agreement currently signed by 28 WTO member countries, allows businesses from its signatories to compete across the board for government purchases of goods and services on a non-discriminatory basis.
In 2002, negotiations leading to Taiwan's entry were successfully concluded, but Taiwan has yet to join due to objections from China -- which is not a GPA signatory -- concerning some of the wording that refers to Taiwan's governmental institutions.
In order to bring in Taiwan, the GPA Commission last June adopted a proposal initiated by the US and the EU and reached a decision stating that the names or terms used in protocols, documents and appendices regarding the participation of a "customs territory" in the GPA bear no implications for sovereignty.
Taiwan joined the WTO in 2002 under the name: "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu."
Last year's decision was not accepted by Taiwanese authorities.
Asked whether compromise on the EU's part over the wording in GPA materials is possible, Ledoux seemed optimistic.
"It's my understanding and my wish," he said
In the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, signed on March 25, 1957, the EU office in Taipei held an event to promote both European values and relations between Taiwan and the EU.
The EU office also released three new publications. A booklet introducing the EU was released along with a cartoon version of the same book for young students, as well as a book entitled Reporting on the European Union: A Guide for Journalists.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by