President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of May 19 with former Central Bank Governor of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sultan Bin Nasser Al-Suwaidi and his wife. In addition to recognizing the contributions of Mr. Al-Suwaidi in promoting modernization within his nation's banking system, the president also explained the measures adopted by the ROC government in 2009 in response to the global financial tsunami.
In remarks, the president stated that Mr. Al-Suwaidi served as the governor of the UAE Central Bank from 1991 until September of last year. Over the course of his 23 years in office, he introduced many modern banking systems, thereby successfully leading the UAE to become a financial hub in both the Middle East and the world. Mr. Al-Suwaidi's success earned him the trust of UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, he said.
President Ma said that the global community has recognized the outstanding contributions of Mr. Al-Suwaidi in promoting the stable development of banking in the UAE. At the 2006 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank held in Singapore, he was also named the Central Bank Governor of the Year for the Middle East. In addition, during the global financial crisis in 2009, Mr. Al-Suwaidi led the UAE Central Bank in handling US$20 billion of Dubai's debt. At the same time, he carried out banking reforms, enabling the nation to recover from an economic contraction of 5.2% in 2009 to register growth of 1.6% in 2010. The president expressed his admiration for that achievement, also mentioning that the global community applauded Mr. Al-Suwaidi for his accomplishments.
As for the countermeasures adopted by the government here in response to the financial tsunami, the president said that when he took office in 2008, Taiwan's economy faced steep challenges as a result of the global financial crisis. The government at that time adopted numerous crisis response measures, including the central bank cutting interest rates seven times. That helped maintain liquidity and appropriate capital adequacy levels within the banking industry, and kept many small- and medium-sized private banks from facing operational difficulties due to large withdrawals of funds. In addition, he said, the government implemented a four-year NT$500 billion plan to expand domestic demand and resuscitate the economy, while also distributing consumption vouchers worth US$2.7 billion to spark spending and bolster the economy. The ROC was the only country in the world at that time to take such a step, he noted. Furthermore, the government initiated the so-called "three supports" policy, in which the government supported banks, the banks in turn supported enterprises by providing financing, and enterprises supported workers by keeping them on the payroll. This enabled banks, enterprises, and workers to get through the financial tsunami. Taiwan's economic growth rate also jumped to 10.63% in 2010, a 24-year high, after contracting 1.57% in 2009, he said.
The president mentioned that over the past few years the members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) have carried out large-scale infrastructure projects, driving economic development in the region. And in conjunction with the populations and resources of North African and Central Asian nations, an emerging Islamic economic circle is being formed. The UAE is a member of the GCC and has been quite bold in implementing economic liberalization policies, which has made it a highly influential nation in the region both politically and economically, the president said.
The president remarked that the ROC and the UAE in recent years have had close cooperation in a wide range of areas. Last year, bilateral trade was valued at US$7.1 billion, up 13% from 2013. The UAE is presently Taiwan's 16th largest trading partner, and last year Taiwan imported about 80,000 barrels of crude oil daily, which accounted for about 9% of Taiwan's overall imports. In addition, nearly 50 Taiwanese companies in the marine, petrochemical engineering and construction, electronic communications, and tire industries have set up offices or established regional operational centers in the UAE, with operations covering neighboring Middle East nations and countries in North Africa and Central Asia. This highlights the fact that in terms of their respective economies as well as trade, Taiwan and the UAE are quite complementary, he stated.
The president also stated that in July this year a total of 142 countries and areas throughout the world, including the European Union, the United States, and GCC members Oman and Bahrain will be providing ROC nationals with visa-free courtesies or other visa conveniences. The ROC government would also welcome the establishment of a UAE representative office here to promote economics, trade, and tourism, the president said, further expressing his hope that the two countries will take steps to provide their citizens with reciprocal visa conveniences to further expand the development of substantive bilateral relations.
Mr. Al-Suwaidi, the president mentioned, has been invited by the Bankers Association of the ROC to attend a forum on the outlook for banking industry cooperation between Taiwan and the Middle East, and deliver an address in which he will share his many years of experience. The president hopes that Mr. Al-Suwaidi will have an opportunity to interact with banking industry counterparts here and that Taiwan and the UAE will enhance their cooperation in the relevant sectors.