Taiwan and New Zealand have agreed to begin feasibility studies on the possibility of an economic cooperation agreement, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday.
An agreement was reached yesterday between the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Wellington and the New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei that both sides will separately carry out feasibility studies to gauge the economic impact if an agreement is signed, the ministry said.
The studies are expected to be completed in less than a year, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) told reporters.
That makes New Zealand the second country after Singapore to examine the possibility of an economic agreement since June last year.
Taiwan and Singapore have completed feasibility studies and have now begun formal negotiations on a trade pact, the minister said, adding that negotiations are still ongoing.
With warmer cross-strait ties, Taiwan is aggressively pursuing trade pacts with other countries.
Indonesia, India and the Philippines have expressed interest in signing economic deals with Taiwan, but have not entered into official talks.
According to Shih, signing an economic cooperation agreement would not only reduce tariffs, but also serve as a catalyst to boost mutual investment activities.
He said Taiwan and New Zealand could explore collaboration in investments such as green energy, film production and agricultural biotechnology after signing an agreement.
Taiwan mainly exports machinery components, panels, notebooks, gasoline, bicycles and wireless transmission equipment to New Zealand, whereas New Zealand exports beef, dairy products, kiwi fruit, apples and aluminum to Taiwan, according to the ministry.
TARIFFS
Tariffs on some of these products are expected to be cut if both sides sign a trade pact.
Taiwan was New Zealand’s eighth-largest export market last year, exporting US$610 million in goods to Taiwan. Taiwan exported US$470 million in goods to New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Sheng-chung (林聖忠) yesterday said the ministry was continuing to lobby the EU in the hope of signing an economic cooperation agreement as soon as possible.
He made the remarks after holding talks with European Commission Deputy Director-General for Trade Joao Aguiar Machado.
Lin said the EU agreed to deepen trade ties with Taiwan, but signing a trade deal would be a mid to long-term issue to work toward and both sides would continue exploring the possibility.
RECYCLE: Taiwan would aid manufacturers in refining rare earths from discarded appliances, which would fit the nation’s circular economy goals, minister Kung said Taiwan would work with the US and Japan on a proposed cooperation initiative in response to Beijing’s newly announced rare earth export curbs, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. China last week announced new restrictions requiring companies to obtain export licenses if their products contain more than 0.1 percent of Chinese-origin rare earths by value. US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent on Wednesday responded by saying that Beijing was “unreliable” in its rare earths exports, adding that the US would “neither be commanded, nor controlled” by China, several media outlets reported. Japanese Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato yesterday also
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) said it expects peak season effects in the fourth quarter to continue to boost demand for passenger flights and cargo services, after reporting its second-highest-ever September sales on Monday. The carrier said it posted NT$15.88 billion (US$517 million) in consolidated sales last month, trailing only September last year’s NT$16.01 billion. Last month, CAL generated NT$8.77 billion from its passenger flights and NT$5.37 billion from cargo services, it said. In the first nine months of this year, the carrier posted NT$154.93 billion in cumulative sales, up 2.62 percent from a year earlier, marking the second-highest level for the January-September
‘DRAMATIC AND POSITIVE’: AI growth would be better than it previously forecast and would stay robust even if the Chinese market became inaccessible for customers, it said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday raised its full-year revenue growth outlook after posting record profit for last quarter, despite growing market concern about an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble. The company said it expects revenue to expand about 35 percent year-on-year, driven mainly by faster-than-expected demand for leading-edge chips for AI applications. The world’s biggest contract chipmaker in July projected that revenue this year would expand about 30 percent in US dollar terms. The company also slightly hiked its capital expenditure for this year to US$40 billion to US$42 billion, compared with US$38 billion to US$42 billion it set previously. “AI demand actually
RSS