The Ministry of Finance (MOF) should take advantage of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to share Taiwan's economic and financial policy successes, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said today after hearing about Taiwan's participation in the 2014 APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting held last month.
Given that APEC is one of the most important regional organizations in which the nation takes part, the MOF can use APEC platforms to learn from other countries and enhance Taiwan's own fiscal measures, Jiang said.
This year's meeting, held October 21-22 in Beijing, discussed public-private partnerships to attract private investment in infrastructure, flexible implementation of fiscal policies, and new actions for structural reform.
The premier instructed the MOF to distribute the Joint Ministerial Statement—which highlights the conclusions of the meeting and summarizes the measures of Asian-Pacific economies—so that other agencies can apply these measures to Taiwan's fiscal, economic and financial policies.
Premier Jiang thanked Finance Minister Chang Sheng-ford and his delegation for their hard work, saying their participation in the APEC event has helped strengthen bilateral cooperation with member economies.
The event centered on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and discussed issues covering the global and regional economy, infrastructure investment and financing, fiscal and taxation policy reform for economic restructuring, and improving financial services for the regional real economy. The Joint Ministerial Statement was released at a press conference afterwards to serve as reference for the APEC Economic Leaders' Week this month.
At the financial ministers' meeting, Chang shared about Taiwan's macroeconomic outlook, fiscal and tax reforms, as well as programs encouraging private participation in infrastructure projects.
Minister Chang also met with finance ministers from Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States, holding bilateral talks on APEC regional one-stop customs portals and cross-border data exchange, fiscal and tax cooperation, and support for Taiwan's entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.