Taiwan minister visits RI

Taiwan minister visits RI

TAIPEI (AFP): Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Chih-
kang left for Indonesia Monday for talks on bilateral cooperation
in energy development.

Wang, whose delegation includes officials from the energy
commission, the state-run Taiwan Power Company and Chinese
Petroleum Corp., will attend an annual ministerial-level meeting
due to start later Monday, officials said.

Taiwan Power and its Indonesian counterpart will sign a
memorandum on technical cooperation, which "would bring positive
effect to electricity and coal supplies in Taiwan" Wang said
before his departure.

About 30 percent of coal and 60 percent of natural gas
consumed in Taiwan comes from Indonesia.

Bilateral trade fell 27 percent in 1998 to 3.15 billion US
dollars on the back of regional financial crisis.

Taiwan suffered a trade deficit of 1.05 billion dollars last
year largely due to imports of crude oil, natural gas and coal
from Indonesia.