The government will help businesses grow, Premier Jiang Yi-huah pledged after speaking with nut and screw, aviation and food industry leaders today at Guantian Industrial Park in Tainan City.
"Industrial development requires government assistance," the premier said. The central government must formulate proper industrial policies, build good infrastructure, cultivate talent, supply skilled workers, and help in acquiring capital, he explained, while local governments should do well in investment solicitation, land appropriation and environmental assessment.
"The economy is Taiwan's lifeblood," Jiang emphasized. "If Taiwan cannot capitalize on its current edge in economic development, keep improving and refining to maintain its lead in deployments in the Asia-Pacific region or the global market, it could be replaced by nations formerly referred to as 'third-world countries' due to their lower labor and production costs. In this rigorously competitive arena, we must maintain our advantages and seek our niche using a next-generation industrial production model.
"So long as the executive and legislative branches and central and local governments can relinquish their prejudices and work together hand-in-hand, Taiwan will be full of hope and opportunities. This is because the people of Taiwan are innovative and dynamic and the government also provides enterprises with room for development," he affirmed.
The premier also noted that recently he has frequently traveled to industrial parks and enclaves in northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan to communicate face-to-face with business leaders and to hear the experiences they have accumulated and challenges they encountered in running their companies.
"To aid business development and Taiwan's economy, the government needs to formulate the laws and regulations as anticipated by forward-thinking company leaders. In this light, the Executive Yuan seeks to understand the needs of different enterprises and hopes to hear their macro-level suggestions on the economy," he said.
When visiting Uni-President Enterprises Corp. earlier in the day, the premier noted that a company's success is not only in its acclaimed products, revenue and number of jobs created, but also in its commitment to serving the public. It is only when enterprises sustain their core values that they continue to prosper and flourish, he remarked.
Food safety and environmental protection are major social responsibilities of businesses, Jiang added. "In the past, 'entrepreneurial responsibilities' were merely defined as creating sound working environments, providing good wages and looking after employees and their dependents, but today's enterprises are understood to bear responsibility to consumers as well. Big enterprises like Uni-President which sell a broad range of products have an especially great responsibility to society, at times comparable to that of a government," he stated.
The premier remarked that Uni-President founder Wu Hsiu-chiu championed the management philosophy "Three Good" and "One Fairness," meaning good quality, good credibility, good services and fair price. In tandem with its growth and expansion, the company has continuously sought to improve its food safety management, just like the central government has rectified its measures when faced with setbacks, he said.
The government will endeavor to resolve the problems encountered by enterprises, which will help Taiwan's economy foster a better working environment and allow all citizens to reap the benefits of the economic upturn as well, Jiang pledged.