The nation’s nominal GDP is expected to increase by US$3.86 billion annually and total production output is set to expand by US$5.56 billion after the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement takes effect, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday.
The WTO on Thursday announced in Geneva that it would implement the agreement in the second half of next year, making it the first multilateral trade pact the organization has ratified in the past two decades, Bureau of Foreign Trade Director-General Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮) said.
Yang said the WTO would introduce new standards for customs inspections and border procedures in accordance with the agreement.
“The agreement would save trading costs and improve the efficiency of customs clearance,” Yang said.
As the agreement does not involve any changes to law, it does not require approval by the Legislative Yuan, she said.
The Trade Facilitation Agreement was originally concluded at a WTO meeting on Bali in December last year, but in July, India refused to endorse the pact unless its food stockpiles were exempted from possible punitive measures.
On Nov. 13, India and the US announced they had resolved a row over India’s food-stockpiling program, clearing the way for India to ratify the agreement.
The ministry said the agreement is important to Taiwan’s economy, which relies heavily on foreign trade.
Taiwan’s nominal GDP was US$489.3 billion last year, according to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
The implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement would boost the nation’s economy by increasing exports by US$3.22 billion and imports by US$2.79 billion, according to the results of research by the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (中華經濟研究院).
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