Taiwan has informed the WTO that it is joining the Information Technology Agreement’s (ITA) expanded tariff-elimination program, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
“We have agreed to the 201 additional IT products and officially joined the declaration on the expansion of trade in information technology products,” Bureau of Foreign Trade Director-General Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮) told a media briefing.
GENEVA MEETING
Yang said the WTO’s two-day General Council meeting, which started yesterday in Geneva, is to conclude discussions on the 201 added IT products today and move on to the next stage of the ITA negotiations.
All parties involved in the expanded program should provide no later than Oct. 30 a draft schedule containing the details of their tariff-cutting timetable for each of their products included in the agreement, Yang said.
The agreement is expected to be completed in the WTO’s ministerial meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in December and to take effect on July 1 next year at the earliest, Yang said.
According to the declaration, all ITA members should phase-in tariff eliminations for the 201 items over a three-year period, she said.
“Once the duties are eliminated, the net benefits for Taiwan could reach US$820 million per year,” she said.
FLAT PANELS
As for Taiwan’s flat-panel products, which are not included in the ITA’s expanded scheme, Yang said that the ministry would draft policies designed to enhance domestic manufacturers’ global competitiveness, including helping them develop niche products.
According to a study conducted by the government-
supported Industrial Technology Research Institute (工業研究院), Taiwan’s annual flat-panel production — led by Innolux Corp (群創光電) and AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) — could grow 6 percent to NT$1.2 trillion (US$38.02 billion) this year.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
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Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day