President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of May 12 at the Presidential Office with Mr. Tony Nash, Director of Client Research at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The president extended a warm welcome to Mr. Nash on his visit to Taiwan to participate in a forum focusing on the creation of sustainable and competitive urban areas.
The president noted that Germany's Siemens commissioned the EIU to compile the Green City Index. After first focusing on Europe and Latin America, the agency has now for the first time carried out in-depth research on over 20 Asian cities. Taipei scored "above average" in seven of the eight evaluation categorie, and was one of six cities to receive an overall score of “above average,” the second-highest category. The president said he is pleased that the international community is recognizing the achievements of the city's environmental protection policies.
President Ma stated that the government has proposed "strengthening the country through innovation, saving the country through environmental protection, and securing the country by providing social services" as important national development objectives, and these initiatives are gradually being realized. He pointed to the over US$10 billion Kuokuang Petrochemical project as an example, saying that the government decided not to continue with the development project out of concern for Taiwan's environment, and to avoid the overuse of land for the purpose of economic development. In the future, he said, the government will help the petrochemical industry upgrade so it can produce higher value-added products while generating less environmental impact. The president also stated that the government is actively adopting related policies and legislation. For instance, the government has announced a goal to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to 2005 levels by 2020, and to 2000 levels by 2025. In addition, the government is promoting new laws, including the Renewable Energy Development Act, the Energy Management Law, a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Bill, and an Energy Tax Bill. He said that six low carbon cities will be established here within the coming four years, and another four low carbon communities will be created in northern, central, southern, and eastern Taiwan by 2020.
The president also briefed Mr. Nash on Taiwan's economic situation, noting that Taiwan's economic growth last year reached 10.82% and the nation's unemployment rate has fallen to 4.48% as of this past March. Taiwan has scored well in international competitiveness ratings, he said, pointing out that Taiwan was listed as the eighth most competitive economy in the World Competitiveness Yearbook released by Switzerland's International Institute for Management Development (IMD). The IMD ranked Taiwan sixth in the category of Government Efficiency, and third in Business Efficiency, the best ever for Taiwan in both categories. Meanwhile, the Research Institute of Boao Forum for Asia ranked Taiwan second among 35 Asian economies in its first Asian Competitiveness Annual Report. In this report, Taiwan topped the list in the human capital and innovation category, with Taiwan's greatest competitive strengths being in education and innovation. President Ma said that Taiwan's economic growth this year is expected to surpass 5% and that unemployment will remain under 5%, and he hopes Taiwan will maintain a leading position in various indicators of progress.
Mr. Nash was accompanied by Environmental Protection Administration Deputy Minister Chiau Wen-yan (邱文彥) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Advisor Tung Kuo-yu (董國猷).