Taiwan has offered its cooperation with the Kingdom in Information and Communication Technology, human resources development, transportation and high technology, where it is particularly strong.
In a wide-ranging interview with Arab News on the occasion of its Double Ten Festival, Sheng-tsung Yang, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, said Taiwan, which is deficient in natural resources, has more than offset its disadvantage through its highly skilled manpower. As a result, he pointed out, Taiwan, with a population of 23 million, has become the world’s 18th largest economy with a GDP of $355.9 billion, very close to that of the Kingdom. It is also the 16th largest trading nation with foreign trade valued at $426.7 billion last year. It is one of the top 20 sources of foreign investment credited with an economy in which Hsinchu Science Park, Southern Taiwan Science Park and Central Taiwan Science Park posted $61 billion in high-tech revenues accounting for 17 percent of its GDP.
“We are willing to share our expertise with the Kingdom, with which we have close relations, especially with its community leaders,” Yang said. A strong indication of these growing bilateral ties, he pointed out, was the 59 percent increase in Taiwan’s exports to the Kingdom — from $510.7 million in the first eight months of last year to $ 529.8 million for the corresponding period this year. With its total exports for 2006 valued at $ 530 million, projections for this year look much better than before.
Buoyed by these prospects, the TECRO Representative said they are mounting a series of trade missions for the remainder of this year in the IT, construction and petrochemicals sectors. Representative Yang said Taiwan would be willing to share its expertise with the Kingdom in the field of human resources development, too. “We don’t have any significant resources, except in terms of human talent. The secret of our success lies in our strong work ethic, so much so that even the handicapped are gainfully employed.”
In this context, he quoted the findings of the World Economic Forum, whose Global Information Technology Report said in part: “Taiwan has built its competitive edge on its human capital, creating a model which other countries would do well to follow… Taiwan demonstrated the advantage what long-term strategic vision combined with adaptive management can confer.
Representative Yang noted that a shining example of cooperation with the Kingdom in manpower training was the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT), which sent its trainees to Taipei. The batch returned to Riyadh recently following a successful completion of their training program in different fields. “We welcome more trainees in different fields, especially in the IT and other fields,” he observed.
In the reverse direction, Saudis are teaching Arabic in Taiwan Cheng Chi University. On the industrial front, it has a joint venture with Jubail Fertilizer Company in a highly rewarding partnership in recent years. The CTCI Petrochemical Construction Co. is also doing well for Saudi Kayan EO/EG Project at Jubail Industrial Complex II at a cost of $500 million.
Besides HRD, Taiwan’s strength, he points out, lies in its Research & Development program as is evident from the presence of three high-tech science parks — Hsinchu Science Park, Southern Taiwan Science Park and Central Taiwan Science Park — which together generated $ 61 billion in high-tech revenues last year, or 17 percent of its GDP. This represented a 40 percent increase over the previous year. The thrust of these and other research centers is on providing cutting-edge technology in the pure and applied sciences.
Representative Yang said Taiwanese IT firms are also scouting for joint venture opportunities in the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) coming up in Rabigh in the Western Province. They will also be vying for contracts in the Knowledge Economic City to be built in Madinah.
E-government is another field where the Republic is particularly strong. “We are already in talks with the authorities of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) in connection with the Saudi government’s e-government initiative,” Rep. Yang said, adding that Taiwan would be willing to invite Amr Abdullah Dabbagh, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) to Taiwan, whose competitiveness stems from Information and Communications Technology (ICT). SAGIA is encouraging investments in the IT sector in the science parks in line with its policy to promote the transfer of high technology to the Kingdom.
He said Acer, Taiwan’s IT hardware giant, has set up an assembly plant in the Kingdom for the production of desktop PCs in collaboration with Riyadh-based Advanced Electronics Company (AEC). The new facility, which will be located in Riyadh, is expected to produce approximately 120,000 desktop PCs in its first year of operation and will form part of AEC’s import substitution program. Acer hopes that the new venture will allow it to tap into the Saudi corporate desktop market and also pave the way for participation in “PCs for homes” initiative launched by the government sometime back. “We are also very strong in fiber optics technology, which caters to the needs of our ICT industry by facilitating high-speed communications. We can introduce the most advanced ICT in Saudi Arabia, which is now moving into high technology,” the TECRO chief said.
Interestingly, the Institute for Information Industry (III) has striven to enhance Taiwan’s global competitiveness through the development of its information technology infrastructure and industry. It has been a key contributor of technology to Taiwan’s information and communications technology (ICT) industry while playing a key role in promoting the adoption of ICT in both public and private sectors.
With nearly 1,400 employees (68 percent of whom have a master’s or higher degree), the III has served in a number of capacities, including serving as a think tank on ICT policy, providing R&D and interoperability standards for the ICT industry, promoting ICT applications, and bridging the digital divide. The III has established four major research institutes specializing respectively in information engineering, network and multimedia, advanced e-commerce, and digital education.
Other areas of high technology where Taiwan’s experience could come in handy include nanotechnology, which will be one of the subjects of study at King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST). Taiwan, which has made a name for itself in this field, set up the National Nano Device Laboratory in 2002, for which it allocated a $670 billion budget for the period 2003-2008.
Equally relevant to the Kingdom is its expertise in biotechnology, again one of the subjects of study at KAUST. According to the TECRO Representative, recycling is another area where Taiwan would be interested in offering its knowhow, since there is a huge potential for it in the Kingdom. He said that Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) calculates that about 40 percent of its garbage is recyclable. The scope for cooperation in this sector is enormous, given the fact that millions of tons of paper, plastic and metallic waste are generated annually in the Kingdom and dumped on garbage sites, contributing to environmental pollution.
Another potential area of cooperation, he said, was the transportation sector symbolized by its high-speed railway. Since the Kingdom, too, was in the process of extending its railroad network from Riyadh- Dammam to Jeddah, Representative Yang observed that it might be useful to have a look at Taiwan’s high-speed rail link as well. It covers a distance of 345 km from north to south with one stop in 90 minutes cruising at a speed of 300 kmph. A conventional train would take four hours to cover the same distance. He points out that Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) launched its service in January this year by deploying 19 trains per day in each direction.
