President Chen Addresses the Opening of the 46th World Congress of the International Council of Small Businesses
Taipei, June 18 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Monday that the Republic of China will continue to support free international trade and further boost bilateral commercial exchanges with countries around the world.
Chen made the remarks in a keynote speech delivered at the opening of the 46th World Congress of the International Council of Small Businesses (ICSB).
Chen said it is of great significance that the 46-year-old ICSB is holding its first world congress of the 21st century in Taiwan, where small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of the economy.
Noting that SMEs in both advanced and developing countries have grown rapidly since the 1980s, Chen said SMEs have become an important integral part of the global economy.
In the past few decades, Chen said, SMEs have contributed greatly to tax revenue increases, job openings, technological innovation and production value. "All these are common features of economic development in the United States, Germany, Italy and Taiwan in recent decades," he observed.
Chen went on to point out that the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis allowed the world to better understand the advantages of SME-driven economies.
In comparison with other Asian countries, Chen said, Taiwan emerged relatively unscathed from the crisis. "As adaptability, flexibility and competitiveness are critical to the survival of SMEs, the SME-driven Taiwan economy has been more adaptable to the changing climate and more capable of coping with adversity," he noted.
With the arrival of the knowledge-based economy, Chen said, innovation is crucial not only to industry and corporations but also to individuals. "To a certain extent, innovation and learning have become an equivalent to corporate growth," Chen said, adding that while the new trend has posed great challenges to SMEs, it has also offered them opportunities to "march toward yet another peak."
As SMEs will continue to play a pivotal role in future economic development, Chen said the ROC government has updated its regulations to assist SMEs in upgrading their production and management, and has joined forces with local governments to improve services to SMEs.
Stressing that market opening is essential to SME development, Chen said the ROC will never waver in its support for free trade and market liberalization.
In addition, he said, the ROC has been endeavoring to offer SMEs easier access to major technological research and development programs to facilitate their innovation and upgrading of competitiveness.
Chen said his administration has also made "investment, the economy and Taiwan's well-being" its three top policy goals and is determined to do its utmost to attract investment to create more jobs and revitalize the sluggish economy.
Chen further encouraged the 500-plus SME executives, policymakers and scholars from 50-odd countries around the world to present their valuable opinions on future SME challenges and development strategies during the four-day ICSB congress.