President Ma Ying-jeou met with a delegation from the Sino-American Certified Public Accountants Association at the Presidential Office on the morning of November 11, and extended a warm welcome to the visitors on their visit to Taiwan.
The president noted that Taiwan's economy has been seriously impacted over the past year and more by the global financial tsunami and economic recession. In response, the Central Bank cut interest rates seven times to inject liquidity into the system and the government implemented the so-called "three supports" policy, in which the government supported banks, the banks in turn supported enterprises by providing financing, and enterprises supported workers by keeping them on the payroll. These measures helped to ensure normal operations at small- and medium-sized banks, he said. The president added that economic stimulus initiatives launched by the government have also helped stabilize the economy. President Ma commented that the government has moved aggressively to rebuild in areas damaged by Typhoon Morakot. To date, about three-quarters of the permanent homes planned have been completed, while the rest will be finished by August of next year, he said.
President Ma stated that the Doing Business 2010 report published by the World Bank ranked Taiwan as the 46th best economy in 2009 in terms of "ease of doing business," up from a ranking of 61st in the previous report. Taiwan's ranking is expected to advance to 33rd in the Doing Business 2011 report, he said. Meanwhile, Switzerland's International Institute for Management Development in May of this year released its World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), in which Taiwan was ranked eighth on the World Competitiveness Scoreboard (i.e. the overall rankings). The WCY ranked Taiwan sixth in the category of Government Efficiency (up from 18th the previous year), and third in Business Efficiency (up from 22nd). Moreover, this year's Corruption Perceptions Index produced by Transparency International ranked Taiwan 33rd among nations surveyed, up six spots, he said, adding that creating clean government is one of the government's most important objectives, and the data above show the progress made by Taiwan over the past two-plus years.
The president stated that his administration has consistently sought to improve cross-strait relations, with one of the major achievements to date being the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement in June of this year. Starting on January 1 of next year when tariffs begin to be reduced, we will no longer look upon mainland China as a factory, but rather a market, he said. This structural change will be extremely important to Taiwan's exports, he stated.
President Ma pointed out that mutual trust has been restored at the highest levels between Taiwan and the United States over the past two years, and now bilateral consultations on a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) are expected to start up again at the end of this year. The resumption of TIFA consultations will help to speed the integration of Taiwan into the global economy, he said. Meanwhile, he noted that the government will continue to work to have Taiwan included in visa-waiver programs in the United States and Europe.
The visiting delegation was led by Mr. Harry C. Lin, and was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Wu Ying-yih, Minister of the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission. Also attending the meeting was Kuo-boug Chang, Director-General of the Presidential Office's Third Bureau.