Taiwan Quick Take

■ 'Black Gold'
Cabinet approves changes
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the draft amendments to the Law on Local Government Systems (地方制度法), which would bar county or city council speakers and vice speakers from retaining their seats once they are charged or sentenced. Currently, council speakers and vice speakers can only be recalled after they have been in office for more than a year. They can continue to serve in their posts until they have been found guilty in three separate trials. The draft would also revoke the authorities of county or city council speaker or vice speaker if they were detained or wanted by the police. The amendments were inspired by the vote-buying scandal in Kaohsiung City Council's speaker and vice speaker election last December. In addition to the council's speaker and vice speaker, who have been detained for allegedly buying votes, 19 city councilors have turned themselves into prosecutors and handed over NT$25 million in bribes. The draft will proceed to the legislature for further review and final approval.

■ Agriculture
Exhibition held in Seoul
A Taiwan agricultural product and food exhibition was held in Seoul yesterday, attracting representatives of more than 120 South Korean enterprises, according to the show's organizers. The exhibition is aimed at promoting trade between the two countries and helping to address the bilateral trade imbalance in South Korea's favor. Yao Hung-cheng (姚鴻成), an official at Taiwan's representative office in South Korea, said Taiwan's foods have become popular in recent years, adding that local food giant I-Mei Food Co will form a strategic alliance this year with Crown, the third-largest food producer in South Korea. Lu Wen-juei (呂文瑞), the marketing official with the China External Trade Development Center who led the business group to Seoul, said that Taiwanese foodstuffs should be easy to promote due to what he described as "the similar culture and palate" of both Taiwan and South Korea.

■ Culture
French officials visit
Officials France's Louvre Museum called on Taichung Deputy Mayor Hsiao Chia-chi (蕭家旗) yesterday to discuss increased exchanges. Christiane Ziegler, director of the Louvre's Egyptian collections, said that more than 600 selected Egyptian pieces will be on display at the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung from April 16 to July 11 next year and invited city residents to enjoy "the cultural feast." Ziegler said that the artifacts, which will include a sphinx, a marble sarcophagus and a mummy, will come to Taiwan in August for the first time as part of a show called Legacy of the Nile. The show will be held in August in Taipei and in December in Kaohsiung before being transferred to Taichung.

■ Foreign affairs
Tainan gets a sister
Tainan City established sisterhood ties with Zacapa City in Guatemala Tuesday, city hall sources said. Witnessed by Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo Cabrera and Taiwan Ambassador to Guatemala Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊), Tainan Mayor Hsu Tien-tsai (許添財) and Zacapa Mayor Carlos David Pineda Franco signed an agreement on establishing such a relationship at Zacapa City Hall, the sources said. The two cities will strengthen cooperation and exchanges in the fields of administrative affairs, academics, science and technology, culture, trade and tourism, they said.