Office of the President Republic of China(Taiwan)

Good morning.

First of all, I would like to extend my warmest welcome to Mr. Pensel, who is indeed an old friend of Taiwan. Over the last twenty some years, you have introduced many internationally renowned information technology companies to Taiwan, helping numerous local companies to establish business ties with them. It is most noteworthy that the annual procurement operations by these multinational companies have enabled our local information industries to join the global competition. Taiwan's information industry has been striving to increase the added values of our products and establish an integrated network, which allows for proper division of labor. These procurement operations also play an important role for Taiwan's continuous economic growth.

After the merger of Hewlett Packard and Compaq in May, it is expected its procurement in Taiwan this year will reach a historical high, which is estimated to exceed 15 billion USD. It is indeed the biggest foreign procurement and the volume is at least three times more than that of the second biggest foreign procurement. I have learned that exactly a week ago, on 23rd of October, Hewlett Packard announced its plan on setting up a Product Development Center in Taiwan; it is also the one and only PDC for HP in the Asia-Pacific region. When the whole world pours large sum of capital into the China market, HP is the first transnational company to gather and allocate all of its R&D talents from the Asia-Pacific region to Taiwan. This is indeed quite a significant step. Such a decision clearly indicates that HP has great confidence in Taiwan's capabilities in R&D and design. It also signifies HP’s positive outlook for Taiwan’s future. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for HP and Mr. Pensel's long-term support to Taiwan. I also hope that through our mutual cooperation, we will gradually realize the goal of "richly cultivating Taiwan while reaching out to the world."

Taiwan's greatest advantage for competition in the global market lies in its excellent pool of human resources as well as its market flexibility. As our society becomes more democratized and liberalized, the vitality and creativity of the Taiwanese people becomes more evident and are indeed valuable assets to our country. Taiwan is also undergoing reforms on all fronts with an aim to offer the most attractive and competitive environment for foreign investors. Moreover, Taiwan seeks to attract creative and hard-working talents from all over the world. I believe these measures will help build a better foundation for Taiwan's sustainable development.

In May this year, our Executive Yuan has formally adopted a six-year national development plan, known as "Challenge Year 2008", which has laid out our vision very clearly. In 6-year's time, we would like to create a bright new future for Taiwan. Not only will we endorse the core value of "humanism", increase our investment in human resources, but we will also safeguard our environment while continuing our economic development. We want to make our beautiful island, Formosa, a green silicon island which not only enjoys advanced technology but also heeds to humanistic aspirations.

Our goal is grand, and our mind is open. I would like to offer my assurance that within the shortest time possible, Taiwan will prepare itself and be ready to embrace the many challenges ahead. We sincerely welcome our friends from all over the world to join us in meeting these challenges, for they would lead to more internationalization of our society and further liberalization of our market. Lastly, I would like to once again extend my sincere welcome to Mr. Pensel and other distinguished guests. I look forward to a long-lasting and ever-lasting friendship and cooperation between Taiwan and your respectable company. I wish all of you every success and good health. Thank you very much.