Industrial Development Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs

On May 26, 2015, the Asian-Pacific Youth Associations of National Taiwan University and National Chengchi University and the Regional Development Study Center of Chung-hua Institution for Economic Research jointly hosted a forum on the importance of ECFA to Taiwan at National Taiwan University. The evening event fused theoretical and practical perspectives from the industrial sector, academic institutions, and government agencies for heated discussions on the impacts and challenges that Taiwan faces with regional integration.

This forum attracted the participation of approximately 130 students, where Director-general Ming-ji Wu emphasized the importance of ECFA in helping Taiwan to negotiate more competitive commercial advantages for non-ITA products and panels with tariff barriers. Since most non-ITA product band panel manufacturers are located in central and southern Taiwan, with the government’s internal effort to help industrial upgrade and transformation, and external effort to remove trade barriers, the government can help industries to stay and remain in Taiwan. Panelists at the forum indicated how ECFA is set up under the bilateral trade framework of the WTO, and used the automobile and textile industries as examples to demonstrate how ECFA can impact the industry’s global portfolio.

The student audience raised questions on how win-win situations are created in bilateral negotiations and why the signing of ECFA comes after the Cross-strait Agreement on Trade in Services. The panelists gave thorough explanations to each question asked. The Ministry of Economic Affairs will continue to host similar forums on campuses to keep the dialogue open between students and the government.