Taipei, June 13 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian received representatives of the winners of the 2003 Gold National Award of Excellence Friday and described them as the locomotive driving Taiwan toward progress.
The winners of this year's award -- the island's most prestigious product design award -- include Microtech, Hiwin, Gigabytes, D-link, Kye and Giant. Most of them are manufacturers of information technology products.
Chen said that now that the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) situation in Taiwan is wanning, it is time for people to return to normal life and pay more heed to economic development.
Saying he has high expectations that companies with high research and development capability will drive Taiwan ahead economically, Chen urged local companies to transform from pure manufacturing to include R&D and marketing.
Touching on the domestic economy, Chen noted that private investment and consumption have shrunk considerably due to the recession, so the government has a responsibility to rev up the economy by presenting stimulus plans.
The president said that ever since the Legislative Yuan passed in its just-concluded session several budget plans aimed at expanding public construction projects, increasing job opportunities and improving SARS prevention and relief efforts, he has given instructions to the Cabinet to implement these plans, which are worth a total of NT$127 billion (US$3.67 billion).