Officials at the Cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD,
"We will not be affected by the presidential election this March," said Schive Chi (
"The task is to push forward bills that will allow us to readily enter the WTO when the next legislative session begins."
According to Schive, the ruling KMT will first make sure that the Trust Law (
KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan declared on Jan. 2 that the party's assets would be put into trust, and that the Trust Law will provide the legal framework for doing so.
In order to realize the goal of making Taiwan Asia-Pacific's business center, the Financial Organization Consolidation Draft Bill will provide tax incentives for banks that are interested in merging, Schive said.
Other bills aimed at deregulating the market include the Securities Trade Tax Bill, which will exempt company convertible bonds and financial bonds from taxation; the Oil Management Draft, which will eliminate restrictions on oil product imports; and the Employment Service Law, which will streamline administrative procedures for hiring foreigners.
According to Schive, there are 82 bills that need to be passed before Taiwan will become a regional business center. As of Jan. 14, 45 of those bills have become law.
The next legislative session will run between Feb. 18 and 22, and it will be the final session before the March 18 presidential election.
Separately, the nation's economy was reported to have grown 5.7 percent last year, slightly better than estimates in the aftermath of the 921 earthquake. After the quake, the government revised its 1999 economic growth forecast downward to 5.48 percent from 5.74 percent.
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