A two-day regional meeting held to lay the groundwork for a planned national conference on trade and economic issues continued yesterday, with participants spelling out their opinions on several issues without reaching any conclusion.
The planned national trade and economic conference is intended to focus on two themes: “Taiwan’s economic development strategies under the trend of globalization” and “Taiwan’s bid to join regional economic and trade integration and its cross-strait economic and trade strategies,” according to the National Development Council which is organizing next month’s event.
A day earlier, Taiwan Institute of Economic Research president David Hong (洪德生) said that using exports to push economic growth has become outdated. The government should be more aggressive in pushing industrial sectors to seek upgrades or transformation, he said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
While doing so, it should also establish a mechanism to help industries affected by globalization survive, otherwise its trade moves will trigger industrial crises, he added.
Chinese National Federation of Industries chairman Rock Hsu (許勝雄) and National Taiwan University president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池) presided over yesterday’s meeting.
Yang suggested that Taiwan search for its advantages to continue and maintain economic development amid globalization and regional economic integration.
During the meeting, participants shared views on the government’s proposed free economic pilot zones program, the spirit of responsible politics, vocational education, labor rights protection, a proposal to allow more Chinese students to study in Taiwan and the problem of economic and trade talent “brain drain.”
Meanwhile, the council yesterday released a report that contains “common opinions” of participants of the two-day meeting, saying that all participants support efforts to promote participation in regional economic integration and globalization, but that the nation must at first outline an integral plan for its economic development.
The report said that, while political struggles have damaged the democratic mechanism in the nation, the government should be as humble as possible and make efforts to seek consensus from opposition parties.
The government should also try to prevent benefiting certain businesses and do whatever it can to help promote the upgrade and transformation of the industries that could fall victim to the opening of Taiwan’s market to free trade, the report said.
The report also suggests that cross-strait negotiations should take into account the opinions of different political parties and interest groups.
The national trade and economic conference, scheduled for July 26 through July 28, is to focus on overall trade and economic prospects, including efforts to participate in regional economic integration through joining such proposed trade bodies as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, according to the Executive Yuan.
Other regional meetings, also designed to be preparatory events for the national conference, are to be held in Greater Taichung, Hualien and Greater Kaohsiung in coming weeks.
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