Cultivating sufficient and suitable talent is central to the Free Economic Pilot Zone (FEPZ) program, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said today at a forum organized by the Ministry of Education to discuss ways to promote innovative education in FEPZs.
As the special act for the program was being finalized, financial services and innovative education were added to the industries for which regulations were to be eased inside FEPZs, which already included intelligent logistics, value-added agriculture and international medical care, Jiang said.
"Over the past several decades, Taiwan has created an economic miracle and a mature democratic society by opening itself to the world," he stated. "In the 21st century, regional economic integration is an inevitable trend, and many countries are expediting economic liberalization and internationalization. The two most important regional economic pacts for Taiwan are the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
"Taiwan has always made openness its national strategy, and if it now chooses to lag behind global and regional trends in economy, industry, labor regulations and education systems, it will eventually become marginalized. Hence, we must have the foresight to interact with other countries and prepare for economic liberalization and internationalization," Jiang reiterated.
"FEPZs have been conceived as trial zones in order to alleviate public concern over an islandwide free economic strategy. Within FEPZs, regulatory easing, tax incentives and other innovative reforms can be implemented. If the program yields encouraging results, it can be expanded to the entire country.
"Taiwan's higher education is considered among the best in the world and is on par with other Southeast Asian key players such as Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. The ROC has always been consistent in its policies and legislation related to education and applies the same rules to public and private academic institutions nationwide.
"Uniformity, however, could restrain colleges and universities and take away opportunities for them to find their own niches in education. Taiwan's human resources are the competitive edge that allows the island to outperform its global competitors. If Taiwan's workforce development does not prepare it sufficiently for worldwide competition, this clear advantage would vanish and Taiwan would fall behind its competitors.
"This forum was arranged for bilateral communication and opinion exchanges, not a one-sided explanation and recruitment of investment," the premier emphasized. "The draft of the special law for the FEPZs has been submitted to the Legislature for preliminary review, and the Legislature has decided to hold a public hearing before review of articles per se. Hence, FEPZ-related questions are in the incubation phase, and I am pleased to have university representatives and other attendees here expressing their opinions and sharing their experience. The government treasures your opinions. I myself will seriously consider your suggestions, and they will be important lawmaking references for government agencies going forward, whether in legislative deliberations or concrete MOE policy implementation."