President Chen Shui-bian attends on October 3 the "2005 Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises Development Conference" and spoke of Taiwanese enterprises' advantages in many fronts that have helped them thrive in the global trend of challenges and opportunities. The president also praised these advantages as the bedrock for Taiwan to compete in the world market of the 21st century that is based on knowledge.
The president's speech:
It's my pleasure to be invited to the "2005 Small- and Medium Enterprises Development Conference" today. With entrepreneurs of small and medium enterprises, government officials in related fields and scholars all gathering together, we're here to brainstorm with each other. And the event shows the great concern of our society for the development of small and medium enterprises. Today marks the first meeting of its kind. The conclusions made will become the guidelines and references of government policies. So first of all, I want to express my admiration to the organizers of the conference, and extend my warm welcome to the guests who come here from afar.
According to data from the "2005 Taiwan Small & Medium Enterprises White Paper," the number of small and medium businesses in Taiwan has reached 1,164,000, offering more than 7,550,000 job opportunities. Compared to 2003, the job opportunities increased by close to 130,000 slots, and the total sales volume broke the NT$9.35 trillion mark. All these figures show that the small and medium enterprises are not only the cornerstone of Taiwan's economic development, but are also one of the most important elements in creating job opportunities and providing social stability.
The meeting features the core issues of "innovation, togetherness, and a new energetic Taiwan." As everyone knows that the knowledge-based economy and competition on a global scale have become the future trend, and this is the trend that enterprises should be well-prepared and deal with. To cope with the new trend, small and medium enterprises should aim to become "innovative together." The government should also bear this in mind as they invest their resources in helping the enterprises. Through the implementation of related measures, our enterprises can remain in a strong position in the global market, and then improve our economy.
Taiwan's economy is full of creativity, energy as well as competitiveness. As we cannot be satisfied just because of this, we should never look down on ourselves. While the whole world acknowledges Taiwan for its achievement, we should feel free to give applause to ourselves. Efforts made by all our people over the past century have paved way for the development of industries. Taiwan suffered much less than South Korea and other countries as the Asian financial crisis stormed the region several years ago. We were able to weather the storm because most of our enterprises are small and medium enterprises and are flexible in dealing with all kinds of situations as they happened. But to keep the competitive edge of those enterprises in the world market we need to continue with more efforts and create more competitive advantages so Taiwan would enjoy a sustainable economic growth.
The "2005 Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises Development Conference," hosted by the Economic Ministry, has been prepared for a long time in order to choose the right agendas. Seminars and discussions have been held in various parts of Taiwan, with participants ranging from entrepreneurs, government officials as well as scholars. The exchanges of opinions and wise discussions will definitely provide the government with substantial ideas about how to do the policy-making in terms of the development of small and medium enterprises. Innovative ideas and the sense of community inspired in the conference will also become the drive for Taiwan's future economic development. Your enthusiastic participation as well as efforts will surely bring fruitful results to the conference that will lay the foundation for future events.
At last, I wish the conference a great success, and good health and happiness to all distinguished guests here. I owe my special thanks to the small and medium enterprises of Taiwan. It is because of their efforts so that Taiwan can reach out to the world and so do I. Thank you very much.