The Public Construction Commission (PCC) and other relevant agencies have proposed a program to promote globalization of the nation's engineering industry in order to facilitate its development, Premier Jiang Yi-huah stated at today's Cabinet meeting.
Competition for foreign market share by engineering firms is a global trend that can produce exports for related industries, such as engineering consulting, construction, and engineering equipment, while driving overall economic development, the premier said after hearing a PCC briefing on helping the engineering industry expand into foreign markets.
The premier affirmed the efforts of the PCC and other agencies and requested them to each proactively carry out the tasks assigned to them under the program. He then asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Economic Affairs to formulate performance evaluation mechanisms for their overseas units to encourage personnel abroad to help gather information about relevant business opportunities, which would help Taiwan's engineering firms win foreign tenders.
As the domestic engineering market has steadily become saturated over the last several years, the industry has in turn gradually formed a consensus to go outside the nation's borders for business, the PCC stated. The Executive Yuan thus in June 2014 approved a four-year plan to help the engineering industry to globalize.
The program's objectives for the engineering consulting sector are nicknamed "234": in other words, make inroads into two nations' markets, help three companies enter the ranks of the world's top 225 international engineering consulting firms, and assist companies to seize foreign tenders worth NT$400 million (US$13.4 million) after the end of the program. Meanwhile, the construction sector will also be targeted by the program for assistance.
The PCC pledged to continue to play the role of promoter. Its strategies to assist engineering consulting and construction companies to win foreign tenders include building a systemic environment advantageous to the globalization of the industry and lowering the costs for domestic businesses to win overseas tenders.