President Chen Shui-bian on February 7 attended the award presentation ceremony of the 2nd Annual Presidential Award for Agriculture.
The following are excerpts from his speech delivered at the ceremony:
Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very pleased to be here with you at the award presentation ceremony of the 2nd Annual Presidential Award for Agriculture. First, I wish you and our country a happy, peaceful and prosperous new year.
As it is known, the Presidential Award for Agriculture purports to honor the seniors who have contributed to agriculture and to encourage the young to participate in the industry.
While the competition resulted from trade liberalization and globalization is fierce, the issue of how to reach to and grow with the world is, for us, unavoidable yet vital.
It should be understood that the niche and foundation for future development amid the competition can be established only if we continue to remodel our mindset, develop technology, and institutionalize agricultural production systems. Therefore, as far as the government's agricultural reform plans are concerned, some core fields, such as promoting policies and measures related to safe agriculture, innovating the agricultural financing system, adjusting and strengthening the agricultural structure, and transforming and upgrading the industry, have been emphasized.
Taiwan has been a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for four years, and, thanks to the prompt response of our society, the impact on the agriculture sector is not as serious as initially expected. In order to remedy any direct harm inflicted upon because of the entry into the WTO, we have budgeted NT$100 billion for the setting up of a "Compensation Fund for Agricultural Loss Caused by Importation."
However, although the WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong had just concluded and no conclusions detrimental to Taiwan's agriculture were made, future negotiations nonetheless await us ahead. In the future, we will comprehensively strengthen investment in the agricultural sector and accelerate the adjustment of its structure amid growing competitions, that is, to transform our agricultural industry from a closed and protected agriculture to an open and competitive one. Far from shunning the competition, we will actively promote competitive agriculture to ensure its sustainability. We should have confidence in our agriculture and ourselves. With our government's policies and your support, the future of our agricultural and fishing industries will prosper.
I again express my congratulations and wishes to the three winners of this year's Presidential Award of Agriculture. In conclusion, I wish everyone good luck and a happy new year.