President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of August 8 with Asian Productivity Organization (APO) Chair Tan Sri Azman Hashim and Secretary-General Ryuichiro Yamazaki. The president expressed a cordial welcome and appreciation to the guests on their visit to Taiwan.
In remarks, the president said that the APO was founded in 1961 and over the past 51 years has provided quite a few nations with advisory services and assistance in enhancing productivity. President Ma added that the organization has played an instrumental role in helping to boost the competitiveness of Taiwan's industry and foster development here.
The president furthermore commented that last year marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of the APO and, in commemoration of this, the organization has compiled and published a special publication highlighting its successes in enhancing productivity over the past half century. The APO in September of last year held a special publication launch ceremony in Taipei, and on August 9 will hold the International Conference on Productivity and Sustainable, Inclusive Development in the Asia-Pacific, once again in Taipei, to announce its research results. President Ma specially expressed his admiration for the contributions made by the APO in raising productivity in the Asia-Pacific region and promoting sustainable development.
President Ma emphasized that the global economy has been in the doldrums over the past half year due to the impact of the European debt crisis. Taiwan is facing declining exports, and industrial development and consumer spending have been below expectations. The nation, however, is not discouraged, he said, pointing out that four years ago when Taiwan was stricken by the financial tsunami and global economic downturn, the government implemented a series of measures that ultimately enabled the economy to resume growth. He said that the government will not take lightly the economic difficulties that are currently being faced, adding that over the coming two months, the government and private sector will work together in exploring related issues with the hope of finding effective economic revitalization measures to stabilize the economy.
Lastly, the president stated that "productivity is competitiveness." He expressed his hopes that the APO during its conference here will provide Taiwan with suggestions on how to boost productivity and competitiveness, thereby jointly helping to forge an economic recovery in East Asia.
The delegation included APO Industry Department Director Setsuko Miyakawa and Japan Productivity Center President Masayoshi Matsukawa. Also attending the meeting were National Security Council Advisor Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進), Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Yea-Ping Shih (史亞平), Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Tyzz-Jiun Duh (杜紫軍), and China Productivity Center Chairman Hsu Sheng-Hsiung (許勝雄).