Premier Jiang Yi-huah today affirmed the Ministry of Economic Affairs' (MOEA) efforts to promote investment in Taiwan by overseas Taiwanese businesses.
"They have done a remarkable job," Jiang noted after hearing an MOEA report at a Cabinet political affairs meeting on the progress of a cross-ministry plan to bring capital home.
Since the plan was initiated in November 2012, the MOEA and relevant government agencies have attracted dozens of Taiwan businesses to bring home or increase their stake on the island. Among them, 22 applications, worth around NT$168.4 billion (US$5.6 billion) in total, have been given the official go-ahead. These new ventures are expected to create 23,000 jobs, the premier said.
Regarding businesses' concerns about acquiring land for industrial use, Premier Jiang said that in addition to a service window and a platform set up by the Council for Economic Planning and Development, he has also instructed Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo to charge the task force supervising the utilization of national land with tackling this issue.
As for manpower training, Premier Jiang instructed the Ministry of Education to expand the scope of relevant vocational courses and curricula while setting up a communication platform between industries, colleges and universities of science and technology and senior vocational schools so that the trained talent can be successfully channeled into Taiwanese businesses.
The government will also urge all businesses to place emphasis on professional skills instead of academic degrees. For frequently discussed professions of need such as plumbing and funerary services, higher education is not a must, the premier noted. "These jobs attract talents because they are in high demand in the society, and their work conditions and pay have improved. As such, the government will take the initiative in urging industry to provide higher salaries and better working environments for those with professional certificates," he said.
Jiang said the program to bring overseas investment home is not an isolated project; it is part of the umbrella Economic Power-Up Plan and is consistent in nature with sibling projects such as the "free economic pilot zones."
It is hoped that by bringing overseas Taiwanese capital and know-how home, said the premier, local businesses will have an opportunity to upgrade their manufacturing operations and management via measures such as automation and reduce their dependency on labor. Jiang called the return of Taiwanese firms and the country's industrial transformation synergistic processes.