President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of April 29 with representatives from throughout the world who had attended the Pacific Rim Advisory Council (PRAC) 55th International Conference. The president welcomed the visitors to Taiwan, and briefed them on the substantive steps taken by Taiwan to promote trade liberalization and internationalization.
In remarks, President Ma noted that the PRAC 55th International Conference had opened in Taipei on April 26. Lawyers from renowned law firms throughout the world were attending the event, he said, adding that over the course of the conference, the best and brightest of Taiwan's legal and business community were exchanging experiences with their global counterparts and working toward consensus on how to expand international operations and assist with the conduct of business activities.
The president stated that Taiwan entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2002, but multilateral trade negotiations under the framework of the WTO have not yielded major progress. Consequently, WTO member states have returned to signing bilateral and regional trade agreements, he said. President Ma acknowledged that Taiwan's difficult diplomatic situation has limited the government's success in this regard. From 2000 to 2008, he noted, the ROC had signed just four free trade agreements with its five diplomatic allies in Central America, and the volume of trade covered under these deals accounted for only 0.14% of Taiwan's overall foreign trade.
To improve this situation, President Ma explained, starting in 2008 when he took office he had his administration actively promote the negotiation and signing of free trade agreements with other countries. In addition, he said, the government in recent years has sought to create conditions conducive to joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. He noted that trade between the members of these two trade blocs and Taiwan comes to roughly US$240 billion and US$325 billion, respectively, or 35% and 57%, of Taiwan's total trade. If Taiwan can join these two groupings, it would achieve its objective of trade liberalization and globalization, and the development of trade between Taiwan and the countries party to these agreements will be thus enhanced, he said.
President Ma also mentioned that Korea and Singapore are centrally located in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, respectively, while Taiwan is even more advantageously situated in the heart of East Asia, placing it on average just four hours by plane and 55 hours by ship to the major cities and ports in the region. Also, the president remarked, Taiwan provides an important springboard to mainland China. These facts highlight the critical position of Taiwan in the region's economy and trade, he stated.
Among the delegation of over 40 individuals attending the meeting with the president were PRAC Chairman Jeffrey J. Lowe, PRAC Vice Chair Ross Perrett, and Lee and Li Attorneys-at-Law Managing Partner C. V. Chen (陳長文) and Partner Nigel N. T. Li (李念祖).