Text: Commerce Secretary Congratulates Taiwan on WTO Membership
(Commerce Department news release)

The U.S. Department of Commerce issued a press release January 2 congratulating Taiwan on officially becoming the 144th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on January 1, 2002.

Following is the text of the press release:

(begin text)

COMMERCE NEWS
United States Department of Commerce
Office of the Secretary
Washington, DC 20230
www.doc.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 2, 2001

Statement by Commerce Secretary Don Evans on Taiwan's Entry Into the World Trade Organization

On January 1, Taiwan officially became the 144th member of the World Trade Organization. I congratulate Taiwan on this historic achievement.

Taiwan's accession to the WTO will further open Taiwan's market to American exports of industrial goods and services, including key telecommunications and financial services sectors.

The average Taiwan tariff on industrial products will be cut from 6% to less than 5%, and Taiwan also will liberalize its agricultural trade sector. It will open its procurement market to U.S. bidders in areas such as power-generation, transport and power transmission services. Taiwan will also eliminate tariffs in the aircraft sector and select aircraft suppliers based on commercial considerations only.

Taiwan has joined the WTO at a historic moment, and we look forward to its full participation in future WTO work.

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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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