THE Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) is pushing for the establishment of an RP-Taiwan economic corridor so that the Philippines can take a share in Taiwan’s booming economy. The proposed corridor will be from Subic and Clark in the Philippines to Kaohsiung in Taiwan. “The proposed super economic corridor, which is a seamless trade scheme, will enable the Philippines to tap expanding Taiwanese investments in the growing high-technology industries,” MECO chairman Antonio Basilio said. He added this would make the Philippines part of Taiwan’s global supply chain in sectors such as semiconductors, optometrics (for liquid crystal display and plasma), polymers and electronic manufacturing service to third markets like Japan, China and the US.
Basilio said the creation of a super economic corridor could potentially double the Philippines’ trade with Taiwan which stood at just $2.2 billion last year. Under the scheme whose formal negotiations are set to be launched at the joint economic commission in November in Subic, Taiwanese investors would automatically get registered for incentives with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and the Clark Development Corp., and avail of free movement of goods and persons and customs facilitation. Filipinos locating in Kaohsiung, Asia’s second largest port and one of Taiwan’s eight major economic zones, will get the same perks as the Taiwanese get. Basilio expects the scheme to be implemented by 2006.
