Finance ministry defends purpose of trip

A high-ranking Ministry of Finance official spoke out in defense of his ministry on Tuesday saying it has no intention of engaging in business that falls under the authority of other ministries, referring to his ministry's planned trip to Europe later this month to be led by Minister of Finance Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章).

"The Ministry of Economic Affairs is responsible for direct investment, while the Ministry of Finance is responsible for indirect investment," said Political Vice Minister of Finance Sean Chen (陳沖).

"The purpose of the trip is to attract [foreign institutional investors'] investment for Taiwan's finance and high-tech industries," Chen said.

Chen explained that as the high-tech industry currently comprises 60.19 percent of the total capitalization of Taiwan's stock market and has become an important investment target for foreign investors, the ministry was seeking to encourage further investment into the sector.

"The sector also represents lots of investors in the local capital market," Chen said. "The ministry is trying to entice foreign [institutional] investment, especially from those who have not become qualified institutional investors in Taiwan's financial markets."

Chen clarified that the finance ministry was acting within its authority. "We certainly do not intend to cross the line into other ministries' territory," he said.

The finance ministry will launch a global tour in the next two months to lure institutional investors to Taiwan, officials of the Securities and Futures Commission (證期會) said.

Ding Ke-hwa (丁克華), deputy chairman of the commission said on Tuesday that the European trip would cover stops in six cities including London, Frankfurt and Zurich. The departure date has been set for June 23 and the first stop is London.

"We expect to attract 300 to 500 people to attend our meetings and Credit Suisse First Boston will provide assistance in inviting local institutional investors," Ding said.

He said that after the trip to Europe, the finance ministry plans to visit Japan, the US, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

"Daiwa Securities is going to provide local assistance for our visit to Japan," Ding said.

He added, however that it had not yet been determined who would provide local assistance in Hong Kong and Singapore but that several companies including Credit Suisse First Boston, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, had expressed the wish to provide such assistance for the US trip.