Taipei, July 10 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian presided over the first meeting of his economic advisory panel Thursday and listened to their suggestions on economic development in the wake of the successful containment of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
President Chen spoke positively about the suggestion by former Premier Vincent Siew, convener of the panel, that government agencies convene review meetings as soon as possible based on the experiences gained in fighting against SARS.
The president instructed that lessons from the SARS outbreak be learned and that prevention and contingency plans be drawn up. He also said that business opportunities brought about by the outbreak should be heeded.
The administration should formulate development strategies for the various industries that can help in the prevention of SARS transmission, such as e-commerce, door-to-door delivery service, teleconference equipment, diagnostic test kits, vaccines and other industries.
At the panel's urging, the president ordered an expansion of the credit guarantee fund for small- and medium-sized enterprises, saying that these enterprises form the backbone of Taiwan's economic development and are the major source of the nation's economic dynamism. "It is important to upgrade the skill level and development capacity of the small- and medium-sized enterprises, " the president said, adding that the government will expand the scale of the fund by NT$10 billion a year over the next five years.
On suggestions that the government encourage the private sector to invest in urban rejuvenation, Chen asked the Executive Yuan to study the possibility of setting up a one-stop service counter.
The president said that "urban rejuvenation will be one of the most effective ways of raising land value, stimulating the construction sector and upgrading the people's quality of life, " adding that it should be considered as a major national economic construction project.
Chen listened to the suggestions made by Siew as well as those by three other members of the panel on economic development -- namely Chen Po-chih, chairman of the Taiwan Thinktank; Chen Tien-chih, president of the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research; and Wu Rong-yi, president of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research.
The president expressed his appreciation for their efforts, saying that the panel should submit a report every two weeks in principle.
He also expressed the hope that the global economy will turn for the better following a series of economic stimulus measures taken by the United States and the European Union, such as cutting interest rates and taxes.
Other participants in Thursday's meeting at the Presidential Office included Vice President Annette Lu, Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen, National Security Council Secretary-General Kang Ning-hsiang, and Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i, who concurrently serves as the chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development.