Taiwan has joined other WTO member states in multilateral negotiations to promote further liberalization of the service industries, which will strengthen national competitiveness in the sector and open more markets for local service providers, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Taiwan has joined with the US, the EU, South Korea, Japan and other countries in requesting that WTO members increase utilization of their service markets, the ministry said in a statement yesterday.
The multilateral negotiations are more efficient and effective than the one-on-one negotiation model Taiwan adopted previously, the statement said.
The joint request listed 12 items, including the opening up of services in the telecommunications, computer, shipping, energy, logistics, banking, education and other industries to the requesting countries, as well as granting most-favored nation treatment to these countries, the statement said.
Cheng Chen-tsai (
Should the requests be accepted, Taiwan's service providers will be able to create more output value by offshoring some of their business to other countries, the ministry said.
At the end of last year, Taiwan's service industry constituted 73 percent of the nation's GDP, showing that the nation's economic base had shifted from manufacturing to services, the ministry said.
In the interim, Taiwan will be asked by other member countries to open up its own service market, Cheng said, adding that this would not impact heavily on local service providers.
As a newer member of the WTO, Taiwan has more time before it must give market access to other countries to cushion any impact, Cheng said.
Furthermore, the arrival of foreign rivals could help to upgrade Taiwan's service sector and increase the competitiveness of local firms, he said.
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