The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) announced yesterday that it aims to set up five more overseas branches this year in an effort to reach out to more countries.
While all the details are still being worked out, the new offices will most probably be located in Libya, Kenya, Lebanon and India, said Walter Yeh (葉明水), TAITRA's executive vice president.
"This year, we will establish offices where the foreign and economic ministries have no presence. This represents our efforts for overseas strategic deployment and we want to extend comprehensive services to Taiwanese businesspeople there," he told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference yesterday.
According to Yeh, each office will require an initial investment of around NT$25 million (US$773,000), and the council will station two officials at each office and hire another three local staff for support operations.
TAITRA set up nine new offices last year in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Romania, Ukraine, South Africa, Chile, Spain and the US.
This brought the number of the government-backed trade promotion agency's offices to 44, which is still far fewer than the Japan External Trade Organization's 77 worldwide branches, and the Korea-Trade and Investment Promotion Agency's 105 offices.
Meanwhile, the council is also poised to widen exchanges with exhibitors across the Taiwan Strait.
"We are putting on 10 trade shows for companies in China this year for exhibition participation and procurement possibilities. We have received applications for five of the shows so far," Yeh said.
These shows include the Taipei International Automobile Electronics Show, the Taipei International Gift and Stationery Show as well as the Taipei International Digital Electronics Show.
The council only allowed Chinese vendors to participate in the Taipei International Electronics Autumn Show last year.
In June last year, the council closed down four booths at Computex Taipei 2005 that were being operated by two Chinese companies, which had gained access to the show using the names of two local companies.
"We don't have plans to open up Computex to Chinese firms this year because of limitations on booths," Yeh said.
In related news, TAITRA chairman Hsu Chih-jen (許志仁) said that the Taipei International Convention Center, which is managed by TAITRA, reported 15-year record-high revenue last year of over NT$270 million.
The figure will rise this year due to improvements in facilities which will better accommodate international conventions, he added.
DOLLAR CHALLENGE: BRICS countries’ growing share of global GDP threatens the US dollar’s dominance, which some member states seek to displace for world trade US president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened 100 percent tariffs against a bloc of nine nations if they act to undermine the US dollar. His threat was directed at countries in the so-called BRICS alliance, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have applied to become members and several other countries have expressed interest in joining. While the US dollar is by far the most-used currency in global business and has survived past challenges to its preeminence, members of the alliance and other developing nations say they are fed
TECH COMPETITION: The US restricted sales of two dozen types of manufacturing equipment and three software tools, and blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities US President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled new restrictions on China’s access to vital components for chips and artificial intelligence (AI), escalating a campaign to contain Beijing’s technological ambitions. The US Department of Commerce slapped additional curbs on the sale of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and chipmaking gear, including that produced by US firms at foreign facilities. It also blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities that it accused of acting on Beijing’s behalf, although it did not name them in an initial statement. Full details on the new sanctions and Entity List additions were to be published later yesterday, a US official said. The US “will
COLLABORATION: The operations center shows the close partnership between Taiwan and Japan in the field of semiconductors, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Tokyo Electron Ltd, Asia’s biggest semiconductor equipment supplier, yesterday launched a NT$2 billion (US$61.5 million) operations center in Tainan as it aims to expand capacity and meet growing demand. Its new Taiwan Operations Center is expected to help customers release their products faster, boost production efficiency and shorten equipment repair time in a cost-effective way, the company said. The center is about a five-minute drive from the factories of its major customers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) advanced 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer fabs. The operations center would have about 1,000 employees when it is fully utilized, the company
Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has retired from the company and stepped down from its board of directors just as the company is in the middle of trying to execute a turnaround plan. Intel chief financial officer David Zinsner and Intel Products CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus are serving as interim co-CEOs while the board searches for Gelsinger’s replacement, the company said in a statement. Frank Yeary, independent chair of the board of Intel, is to serve as interim executive chair, the company said. Gelsinger’s departure is hitting at a tumultuous time for the US chipmaker. Once the industry leader in
RSS