The three-day National Conference on Economic and Trade Affairs concluded at noon today with the closing ceremony held in the Taipei International Convention Center.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah and former Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i co-chaired the conference today. (Lin was also a conference consultant.) President Ma Ying-jeou opened today's meeting with an address to the attendees. His speech was followed by a report on the consolidated opinions expressed over the previous two days of the conference, and participants were given the opportunity to recommend additions to and revisions of the content. Finally, Minister Chang Chia-juch of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and Minister Kuan Chung-ming of the National Development Council (NDC) summarized the conclusive record of the attendees' views.
The whole of today's conference was broadcast by the Public Television Service (channel 13) while live webcasts were provided by iKala Interactive Media, Watchout Co. and BungBungame Inc. Throughout the conference, participants could see the feedback of netizens following the events on an online "live feed and discussion wall," which registered 10,064 visitors and 7,064 posts over the three days of the conference.
In his address, the president emphasized that Taiwan has a blooming and pluralistic civic consciousness, but in light of intense international competition, citizens need to work out their differences, seek common ground and forge consensus. The public must transform civic society's passion into stepping stones for national progress, and this is precisely the reason the National Conference on Economic and Trade Affairs was organized, he emphasized.
Regarding the issue of Taiwan's economic development strategies under the trend of globalization, Ma pledged that the government will pragmatically review and implement the participants' propositions of formulating a global economic strategy in response to globalization, undertaking education innovation and assisting young people to start new businesses and will make these guiding principles of its future administration.
As for Taiwan's joining regional economic integration and its cross-strait trade strategies, the president believes that globalization and liberalization will certainly impact Taiwan's economy and society. However, the nation must be ready to face these challenges head-on, he emphasized. Meanwhile, the government will put forward concrete coordinating measures to provide industries with guidance, support and relief. It will also re-examine taxation and social welfare policies in order to reduce impacts on society and safeguard social justice and fairness. Finally, Ma pledged that the administration will turn the conference's various consensuses into concrete action plans and will enact a timetable for their execution.
In their summary reports, MOEA Minister Chang and NDC Minister Kuan respectively provided synopses of the views expressed on the two major topics and outlined the government's future policy objectives and key administrative measures. The summaries are as follows:
I. Taiwan's economic development strategies under globalization
(A) Expediting international integration: Face the challenges of globalization and the knowledge economy head-on by formulating globalization strategies as soon as possible, ensuring thorough execution of action plans and enhancing communication with the public.
(B) Promoting industrial innovation: Employ diverse policy tools—such as the industrial restructuring fund, fair taxation, and budget allocation—to accelerate industrial transformation and proactively develop the new innovative economy.
(C)Helping youths to realize their dreams:
1. Accelerate the restructuring of vocational education by enhancing industry-academy cooperation to cultivate talent.
2. Reform the education system and promote self-motivated and diversified learning to reinforce youths' international competitiveness.
3. Establish a resource integration platform to help the youth start up businesses and expand their opportunities by taking advantage of global trends.
(D) Reinforcing social justice:
1. Review current measures governing industries and formulate a cross-agency platform to help disadvantaged groups and improve income distribution.
2. Employ science and technology, culture and added value from innovation to revive local economies.
3. Formulate a social enterprise action plan to help promote the development of such companies.
II. Taiwan's joining regional economic integration and cross-strait trade strategies
(A) Stabilizing cross-strait relations while reaching out to the world:
1. Accelerating Taiwan's entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership: Enact a road map for signing free trade and economic cooperation agreements by working together with the private sector.
2. Promoting cross-strait economic and trade cooperation: Request the Legislative Yuan to expedite the review of the Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services and complete negotiation on cross-strait trade in goods as soon as possible.
3. Reinforcing monitoring of cross-strait agreements and risk control mechanisms:
- Expedite legislation on the Legislative Yuan's monitoring of cross-strait pacts.
- Publish a red paper on cross-strait risks annually.
- Establish a mechanism to assess mainland China's influence on Taiwan's politics and economy.
4. Encouraging participation in policy communication:
- Set up a national media proposal center and formulate a standard operating procedure for the participation of online communities; or
- Establish an online discussion platform for all citizens.
(B) Ensuring advantages and sharing interests:
1. Ensuring Taiwan's economic advantages:
- Expedite the promotion of educating, retaining and recruiting talents.
- Cultivate young people's international perspectives and competitiveness.
- Ensure Taiwan has a lead over mainland China in industrial technologies.
2. Augmenting economic range and depth: To tap into new overseas markets and expand domestic industry chains, actively promote the Free Economic Pilot Zone program and put measures in place to stimulate exports to emerging markets and explore new markets.
(C) Building a complete damage relief mechanism:
1. Review and improve the program to support industries adjusting to trade globalization.
2. Deliberate the establishment of an assistance fund for laborers affected by globalization.
3. Incorporate labor protection provisions into economic and trade agreements.
(D) Ensuring cross-strait exchange and co-prosperity:
1. Establish local agricultural value chains.
2. Review and monitor mainland investment in the domestic tourism industry to prevent monopolistic control.
In his closing remarks, Premier Jiang Yi-huah thanked the consultants, representatives and organizers for their hard work and noted that the conference was a process of reaching consensus through discussion and a platform for face-to-face and online dialogue between people of different mindsets and generations. The combination of on-site and virtual participation may become a model for national conferences in the future, and the public will gradually adapt to the new ways of holding conferences, he said.
"At such an important juncture for the nation's future, it is crucial to reach consensus through rational discussion, eliminating division, distrust and opposition among the public," stated the premier, who also noted the national conference was held in response to a student-led protest, the "sunflower movement" in March and April this year.
"Citizens should learn to communicate with people holding different views from theirs with acceptance and patience," he said. "The ruling and opposition parties should keep in mind that one day their roles may be reversed and together use democratic means to settle disputes and move the country forward."
Lastly, the premier directed all ministries to scrupulously consider the opinions expressed at the conference and incorporate them as bases for policies.