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Steve Chen departs for APEC meeting

Traveling at the head of an official delegation, Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) will depart for Cairns, Australia, today where he will take part in a meeting of the APEC forum.

During the two-day meeting beginning on Thursday, Chen will discuss issues related to APEC, or of mutual concern in bilateral meetings with counterparts from some APEC member states, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.

Apart from measures to boost global and regional trade and investment liberalization, the meeting will also discuss counter-terrorism and health and security issues, ministry officials said. They also said Taiwan is particularly concerned over progress pertaining to the preliminary assessment of the Proposal for a Free Trade Area of Asia-Pacific -- listed as a possible long-term APEC goal by trade ministers during last year's meeting.

Chen is scheduled to return home on Saturday.

In related news, approximately 5 percent of the nation's overall exports will be affected after the US and South Korea signed a free-trade agreement on Saturday in Washington, estimates provided by the Council for Economic Planning and Development showed.

The figure is a result of the fact that Taiwan's exports to the US overlaps those of South Korea in goods valued at US$2 billion a year, the council said.

Also see story:
US, S Korea sign free-trade agreement

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