President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of May 24 attended the opening of the 2009 International Conference on the Future of the WTO that is being held at Howard International House. President Ma delivered remarks to the gathering and welcomed the scholars from nations around the world that have come to Taiwan to attend the event.
President Ma commented that he has also studied international economic law, and as such he is confident that he and the conference participants will be able to share knowledge on a variety of fronts. President Ma said that he was informed by Professor Lo Chang-fa that everyone has been busy over the past week debating rulings by the WTO's mock Competition Tribunal and discussing issues associated with Asia's WTO research network. The president expressed his congratulations to the participants on what they have achieved so far. He added that today the participants will discuss regional free trade agreements and other emerging issues, prospects for success in the Doha Round and the challenge of reforming the international trade system. Although these are very difficult issues, the president said he is confident that the conference will yield important results thanks to the wisdom, knowledge and experience of the participants.
The president also noted that since 2002 when Taiwan entered the WTO, the body has been striving to develop a multilateral trading system. The global financial crisis that emerged in November of last year has created many challenges for this multilateral trading system. The threat of protectionism, for example, has risen as the crisis has deepened, he said. President Ma noted that WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy on April 14 presented a second report on the financial and economic crisis and trade-related developments. In the report, Director-General Lamy said that in response to the global economic crisis and in an effort to maintain economic growth throughout the world, WTO members will inevitably adopt economic stimulus measures. However, trade relief measures could be misused as a form of protectionism. The latest statistics indicate that from July 1 to December 31 of 2008, the number of new anti-dumping investigations rose 17% from the corresponding period in 2007.
President Ma remarked that Taiwan has been seriously hurt by the global financial tsunami and economic downturn. Taiwan is quite concerned about the rising tide of protectionism, since it is an export-oriented economy, he said. The government pledges to continue to keep Taiwan's doors open to international trade and will work in conjunction with the WTO, he said. We will also encourage other WTO members to remain resolutely in the camp supporting trade liberalization, he said. President Ma noted the importance of the completion of the Doha Round as quickly as possible, as this will strengthen order in the multilateral trading system and foster progress in globalization. We agree with Director-General Lamy's statement that the Doha Development Agenda is one of the most appropriate collective stimulus packages, he said.
President Ma also briefed the participants on the latest progress in trade relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. He said that the new administration since taking office last year has strived to improve cross-strait relations. Over the past year, the two sides have signed a total of nine agreements and one declaration related to economic cooperation, which will benefit cross-strait interaction and cooperation. President Ma reiterated that the ROC (Taiwan) government also expects to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement with mainland China to serve as a platform for further developing bilateral economic and trade relations.