The recently concluded Economic Development Advisory Conference and President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) promise to soon form a coalition government have eased a confidence crisis among foreign investors, the ruling DPP said yesterday.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham), for example, has changed its chilly outlook toward the country's economy, DPP legislative whip Tsai Huang-liang (
Tsai made the remark after a closed-door meeting with a small delegation of senior AmCham members led by the chamber's president, Richard Henson, yesterday.
"They said they will increase their investment in Taiwan, encouraged by the conclusions of the Economic Development Advisory Conference and President Chen's decision to form a coalition government," Tsai said.
With 600 firms and 1,000 members, AmCham is the largest and most influential foreign business association in Taiwan. A series of bleak economic numbers had earlier dragged AmCham's confidence level in the government to a five-year low, according to a recent survey.
"The exchange greatly allayed our worries brought on by the survey," Tsai said, adding that AmCham delegates advised the DPP caucus to help facilitate legislation needed to implement the proposals of the economic forum.
Tsai said the chamber's recommendations carried great weight with the DPP caucus.
The AmCham delegation also met with legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
The purpose of both meetings was to impress upon both ruling party legislators and Wang, who not only is a senior member of the opposition KMT -- which dominates the legislature -- but also controls the legislature's order of business, the importance of expediting passage of legislation key to Taiwan's entry into the WTO, or risk further delaying its membership bid.
"If the remaining WTO legislation is not passed in the upcoming session, Taiwan's entry into WTO could be further delayed, or Taiwan could face WTO disputes as soon as it joins," Henson said.
According to AmCham, there are 15 bills, including the Optical Media Management Statute, the Copyright Law and the Civil Aviation Law, that must be passed before Taiwan enters the WTO.
It is expected that a decision to admit Taiwan into the WTO will be made at a ministerial meeting in November in Qatar with formal admission following a month or so later. That leaves only a few months for Taiwan's legislature -- which opens its next session on Sept. 18 and runs until early January -- to pass the remaining laws.
In meetings with Wang and the DPP caucus heads, Henson said, "We are pleased to learn ? that there seems to be a consensus on the importance of passing WTO-related legislation."
Henson said that the legislators had said that on many of the important bills like the Patent Law, which extends patent protection from 15 to 20 years, agreements had already been reached through inter-party negotiations and should be passed fairly quickly in the upcoming session.
However on passage of others, like the Construction Business Law, which will provide a legal basis for foreign construction firms to establish offices in Taiwan, Henson said he was told there would be some difficulties.
An official at the Board of Foreign Trade, which oversees Taiwan's bid to join the world trade body, acknowledged AmCham's concern but was confident the laws would be passed in time, saying the government was doing its best to educate lawmakers on the importance of the legislation.
The official, who declined to be named, said Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Ruey-long (陳瑞隆) along with staff from related government departments had met with DPP, People First Party (PFP) and independent lawmakers yesterday to discuss the legislation.
"From the meetings this morning, all the lawmakers were supportive that the legislation should be passed by the end of November," said the official.
Chen will meet with KMT and New Party lawmakers today to seek cooperation on the issue.
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