A Swiss delegation yesterday met with Taiwanese representatives of nonprofit organizations and businesses in Taipei to discuss ways to tackle challenges in developing sustainable energy sources, including how to reduce dependence on nuclear power.
The Swiss delegation, led by the Trade Office of Swiss Industries (TOSI) in Taipei, said Switzerland decided to gradually phase out nuclear power following the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in 2011.
Nuclear power currently provides about 40 percent of Switzerland’s electricity.
The delegation said that the planned nuclear shutdowns would have to be offset by substantial improvements in energy efficiency and the ramping up of renewable energy options — policy goals that also figure prominently on Taiwan’s energy agenda.
TOSI described Switzerland and Taiwan as highly developed, export-oriented and resource-poor economies that are heavily dependent on energy imports and face growing challenges associated with the social acceptance of nuclear power.
As a result, the two nations should consider shifting toward a more sustainable economy as an opportunity for their industries to win greater shares of the growing global clean-technology market, the trade office said.
The hope of the half-day workshop on sustainable energy policies and opportunities for the “cleantech” sector was to get the two nations working together on sustainable energy sources, TOSI said.
“It [the Swiss delegation] shows that there is an interest from the Swiss side in what Taiwan is doing in this field and I think it is also a good opportunity to exchange different information,” TOSI director Jost Feer said at the opening of the workshop.
The topics covered included Switzerland’s energy strategy and Taiwan’s research on sustainable energy.
The workshop was organized by TOSI and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
RSS