Taipei, May 6 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said that he fully supports the passage of the agriculture finance law and hopes it will clear the Legislative Yuan this session.
President Chen made the remarks when he was speaking to more than 100 members of the National Training Institute for Farmers' Organizations in Tienmu, suburban Taipei.
The president said that he hopes the ruling and opposition parties can sit down and work out their differences so that the law will pass the legislature this session, adding that the government will take care of the needs of all farmers and fishermen.
Delivering his speech at the institute, the president first expressed his appreciation for the executives of the farmers' and fishermen's associations and the representative farmers and fishermen. He also thanked the institute for providing the training and its efforts in upgrading work efficiency.
The president said that coming from an agricultural family, he knows that agriculture is the root of a nation. He said that agriculture also involves national security, ecological conservation and social stability.
The president promised that his government will not be like former administrations and sacrifice the interests of agriculture, farmers, or the farmers' and fishermen's associations, but will step up investment in agricultural and fishery development to reinvigorate the sectors.
The president said it hurt him to see more than 100,000 farmers and fishermen take to the streets Nov. 23 last year to protest the government's policy of reorganizing insolvent credit departments of farmers' and fishermen's associations.
Of the 36 credit departments of farmers' and fishermen's associations already taken over by the Ministry of Finance, the president said that they need to upgrade their service.
The president said that since the takeover, the Ministry of Finance has asked those commercial banks repeatedly to maintain their service standard as it was before the takeover, and that all loan operations must be as simplified as possible.
He said that if the government cannot upgrade the service of the farmers' associations, then it would be meaningless for the takeover and related government agencies must be "spanked."
He urged the farmers and fishermen to have confidence in the government's sincerity in taking care of them.
The president urged the farmers' and fishermen's associations to be leaders in promoting the production, processing and distribution of agricultural products and the establishment of strategic alliances.
President Chen Shui-bian called on the public to strictly follow all measures regarding severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) adopted by the government to win the battle against the potentially deadly flu-like disease.
Containing the spread of epidemics is not only a duty but also an obligation for all citizens, so everyone should follow all relevant regulations, Chen said.
The global outbreak of SARS shows that epidemics have no boundaries in this era of globalization and liberalization, Chen noted, adding that a bit of negligence in the prevention of diseases will lead to a serious impact on the whole society and economy.
Chen further said that a sound anti-epidemic system will not only enable people to prevent communicable diseases but also carry out strict control and inspection of blights for fauna and flora.
The president voiced the hope that all members of the National Training Institute for Farmers' Organizations will work actively to help upgrade domestic farmers' knowledge about the prevention of blights and throw their support behind the government's efforts to crack down on smuggling to prevent the spread of epidemics.