Bucking the general trend of the global financial crisis, Argentina is set to reach a historic trade surplus this year of about US$18 billion, a government official said on Sunday.
“In the middle of the general crisis, Argentina has a trade balance surplus,” Argentine Deputy Secretary of Regional Integration Eduardo Sigal told El Mundo radio.
Sigal expressed doubt at the private sector’s estimates of US$15 billion.
“My estimates say that we will end up with a surplus of between US$17 billion and US$18 billion,” he said.
The official said Argentina recorded a low trade volume of US$100 million in 2002, which soared to US$1.45 billion last year.
Agreements signed last week between Argentine President Cristina Kirchner and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez would add another US$1.1 billion to trade volume this year, Sigal said.
Trade with Venezuela, he added, would increase not only for food products but also in the auto sector, with Caracas set to purchase up to 10,000 vehicles from Argentina and for agricultural machinery and milk-processing tanks.
The auto import deal came after Chavez made good on a threat to scuttle an agreement previously granted to Colombia in favor of other trade partners, after Bogota charged that Venezuela was supplying weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a leftist guerrilla group.
Meanwhile, Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana was to begin a trade visit to Mexico yesterday accompanied by private entrepreneurs.
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his
‘SOVEREIGN AI’: As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for having computing power of 103 petaflops. The governments wants to achieve 1,200 by 2029 The government would intensify efforts to bolster its “Sovereign Artificial Intelligence [AI]” program by setting a goal of elevating the nation’s collective computing power in the public and private sectors to 1,200 peta floating points per second (petaflops) by 2029, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The goal was set to fulfill President William Lai’s (賴清德) vision of turning Taiwan into an “AI island.” Sovereign AI refers to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks. One petaflop allows 1 trillion calculations per second. As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for
STAY WARM: Sixty-three nontraumatic incidents of OHCA were reported on Feb. 1, the most for a single day this year, the National Fire Agency said A total of 415 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurred this month as of Saturday, data from the National Fire Agency showed as doctors advised people to stay warm amid cold weather, particularly people with cardiovascular disease. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a low temperature warning nationwide except for Penghu County, anticipating sustained lows of 10°C or a dip to below 6°C in Nantou, Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as areas north of Yunlin County. The coldest temperature recorded in flat areas of Taiwan proper yesterday morning was 6.4°C in New Taipei City’s Shiding District (石碇). Sixty-three nontraumatic OHCA
RSS