Taiwan and Belize yesterday inked an economic cooperation agreement (ECA), aiming to reduce tariffs, expedite bilateral trade, encourage mutual investment and foster technical cooperation.
The “mutually beneficial” agreement would take effect after it is approved by the countries’ legislative bodies, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a press release.
Taiwan and Belize started talks on an ECA last year, and are to form a committee to manage its execution once the proposal is passed into law, the ministry said.
“Both sides are committed to lowering tariffs on various products, which should encourage more trade between Taiwan and Belize. Taiwanese businesses can increase their sales of industrial products to Belize, while Taiwanese consumers can enjoy a range of farm products from Belize,” it said.
Belize’s status as a member of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) makes products made there more competitive in the EU, it added.
CARICOM has a free-trade agreement with the EU. Some categories of goods made in Belize also enjoy favorable tariffs in the US and Japan, it said.
“Taiwan and Belize have highly complementary industrial profiles. Signing the agreement creates a win-win situation and helps to consolidate the friendship between Taiwan and Belize,” the ministry said.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) signed the document in Taiwan, while Belizean Minister of State for Investment, Trade and Commerce Tracy Panton signed the document in Belize.
Two-way trade between Taiwan and Belize reached US$7.51 million last year, ministry data showed.
Taiwan has US$70.51 million in investments in Belize, mainly in the financial, manufacturing and retail sectors, the ministry said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained