The Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) said yesterday it would allocate more resources to achieve its target of more than 20 percent export growth in 10 major markets this year, as well as continue talks with the EU on signing a free-trade agreement (FTA).
The bureau said it aims to achieve an average export growth rate of 22 percent in China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Brazil, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Egypt and the Middle East — faster than the forecast growth of 15.4 percent for the nation’s total exports this year.
“We will dedicate resources on expanding exports to these major markets as the global economy is recovering,” BOFT Director-General Huang Chih-peng (黃志鵬) told a press conference.
The nation’s exports slumped 20.3 percent to US$203.7 billion last year amid the economic downturn, but major markets that the bureau focused on saw less severe export declines, it said.
Egypt, the third-largest market for Taiwanese exports in Africa, is one of its target markets for expanded exports this year.
The tax incentives offered by the Egyptian government has drawn in steady foreign investments and with a growing middle class, Taiwan could export quality and affordable products, Huang said.
The bureau will also organize investment trips to and join international trade fairs in Indonesia, which it said offers the best potential in Southeast Asia.
Indonesia’s fast economic growth provides a case for its inclusion in the so-called BRIC economies — Brazil, Russia, India and China — Morgan Stanley said last year.
The Indonesian economy could grow 60 percent in the next five years to US$1.57 trillion given a stable administration, lower capital costs and government plans to spend as much as US$34 billion to build roads, ports and power plants by 2017, it said.
This year, the government would also continue its efforts to join the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement, which represents a grouping of New Zealand, Chile, Brunei and Singapore, Huang said.
Taiwan will seek to join the grouping after the US, Australia, Peru and Vietnam have expressed interest in joining, he said.
The bureau said it would also continue pushing for an FTA with the EU, along with the US, Japan and the ASEAN countries.
The EU has told Taiwan it was still “premature” to sign an FTA but informal talks would continue, Huang said.
The expected signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China would raise the profile of Taiwan, which could facilitate the signing of an FTA with the EU, Huang said.
The EU is the nation’s fourth-largest trading partner, after China, the US and Japan. Bilateral trade amounted to US$37 billion last year.
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