Taipei, Nov. 27 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian received Japan Interchange Association Chairman Reijiro Hattori Wednesday and he welcomed him to come to Taiwan at the head of a 40-member delegation to the 27th Taiwan-Japanese Economic Conference.
Chen expressed his belief that substantive relations between Taiwan and Japan will be further strengthened through the two-day conference which opened at the Grand Hotel Wednesday.
The president told his visitor that Taiwan's real economic growth this year is expected to reach 3.1 percent and added the outstanding non-performing loans of the island's financial institutions had dropped from last March's 8 percent to 7 percent in September.
For his part, Hattori, who is chairman of Seiko Corp., described Taiwan as a good trading partner of Japan.
He said that how to get the economies of the two countries back on track is among the major tasks of the on-going economic conference. Hattori also expressed the hope that the results of the conference will contribute to the strengthening of substantive relations.
During the reception at the Presidential Office, Chen also explained the government's determination to carry out reforms on the credit unions of farmers' and fishermen's associations.
The takeovers of 36 credit unions by commercial banks under the instruction of the Ministry of Finance over the past few months prompted over 100,000 farmers and fishermen from around the island to stage a massive demonstration in Taipei Nov. 23.
The president said that the government will give further explanations to farmers over the reform plan. He also pointed out the need to provide sound complementary measures while conducting the reform plan to ensure sustainable development of agriculture.
Hattori visited Chen accompanied by Republic of China Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Tu Chu-sheng and Association of East Asian Relations Chairman Hsu Shui-teh.