Taiwan is resolved to win the endorsement of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member states to join the second round of negotiations and gain access to the free-trade agreement, a Cabinet spokesman said yesterday.
Taiwan welcomes the TPP, which is to create the biggest trade bloc in the Pan-Pacific region among 12 countries, Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said, citing Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) after Monday’s conclusion of TPP negotiations in Atlanta, Georgia, to lower trade barriers and enhance investment protection.
Sun said that since last year, the Executive Yuan has called nine special task force meetings to devise complementary measures and revise local laws and regulations in line with international norms, in an effort to show Taiwan’s resolve to join the TPP.
It is imperative that Taiwan, an export-oriented nation, gains access to the TPP, Sun said.
Taiwan’s participation in the trade pact would be tantamount to several economic cooperation agreements, securing an opportunity for fair competition and creating broader foreign trade horizons for the nation, he added.
When the TPP takes effect, its economic scale is expected to be about US$28 trillion, accounting for 36 percent of the world’s overall production value, according to the Executive Yuan.
It said the 12 TPP member states — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam — are all important trade partners.
Taiwan’s shipments to the 12 countries last year totaled US$103 billion, making up one-third of its overall exports, the Executive Yuan said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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