Government officials from Taiwan and Nicaragua yesterday launched their first round of free-trade agreement (FTA) negotiations in Taipei, a Board of Foreign Trade (BOFT) official said yesterday, aimed at making Nicaragua Taiwan's second free-trade partner after a first pact was signed with Panama last year.
The five-day negotiations, ending on Friday, are divided into five groups, including market entrance, regulation and procedure, investment and the service industry, labor and environment, and commerce, Wu Hsin-hua (
Top negotiator
The nation's representatives for the talks are headed by Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (
By the end of the negotiations, the two parties will reveal the date, location and agenda for the next round of talks, as well as exchanging propositions of tariffs to be lowered, Wu said.
Located in Central America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, Nicaragua counts agriculture as its main economic activity. Its leading exports include cotton, coffee, sugar, bananas and meat.
Trading partner
Nicaragua is Taiwan's 96th largest trading partner with a bilateral trade volume of US$24 million for the first seven months of the year, according to BOFT statistics.
Taiwan signed a FTA with Panama in August last year following 10-month negotiations. The trade agreement became effective in January this year, boosting bilateral trade among these two countries.
In the first eight months of the year, Taiwan-Panama trade rose 116 percent to US$170 million, compared with US$40 million last year. During the same period, Taiwan's exports to Panama rose 103 percent, while Panama's exports to Taiwan increased 424 percent, according to statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Both Panama and Nicaragua are Taiwan's diplomatic allies.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
RSS