airbaltic launches flights between Tallinn and Paris

Transcription

1 airbaltic launches flights between Tallinn and Paris Tallinn. Today airbaltic launched a new direct route linking Tallinn and Paris. The flight, which will operate four times a week, offers convenient connections between the two capitals, linking Tallinn via Paris to the rest of the world, and linking Paris to the Baltic Region and beyond through airbaltic s connections to Scandinavia and the CIS. Christoph Viatte, Chief Commercial Officer airbaltic: airbaltic s new direct flights strengthen our service with Europe s major hubs and offer unmatched onward connections to the whole world. The new service from Tallinn adds to the existing Riga-Paris direct route, and strengthens airbaltic s presence in the Baltic States. Starting today, October 28, 2014, airbaltic will fly from Tallinn to Paris four times a week, with Boeing 737 aircraft. The fares on the route will start at 69 EUR, including airport fees and transaction costs. Route Flight frequency Start date Price *, Basic Price*, Business Elite 4 flights October Tallinn Paris 69 EUR 528 EUR weekly 28, 2014 * Lowest fare, including taxes, fees and service charges, on subject to availability

2 airbaltic serves over 60 destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia. From every one of these locations, airbaltic offers convenient connections via North Hub Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, CIS and the Middle East. A full schedule of airbaltic flights can be found on the company s website: Taiwan eases travel for Chinese visitors to its offshore islands Taipei, Oct. 27 (CNA) Starting next year, visitors from China will no longer be required to apply for a permit to visit Taiwan s major outlying islands, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) confirmed late Sunday. Instead, Chinese visitors will obtain a permit on arrival in Kinmen and Matsu, a change that is aimed at promoting tourism and business activities in these areas, the MAC said. The permit-on-arrival regulation, which will take effect on Jan. 1 next year on those two islands, has been in place in the Penghu islands since July 2010.

3 Chinese visitors who intend to proceed to Taiwan proper, however, will still need to apply for a landing permit before traveling to any of the islands, said the MAC, the Cabinetlevel agency responsible for Taiwan s policy on China. In the absence of formal ties between them, Taiwan and China issue permits, instead of visas, for travel by their respective citizens to the each other s territories. The MAC s announcement came a day after a visit by President Ma Ying-jeou to Kinmen, where he said the measure could help attract more visitors and investment to Taiwan s outlying islands. The Kinmen islands, just kilometers off the coast of China s Fujian Province, are closer to China than to Taiwan and have been open since 1999 to Chinese visitors traveling by ferry. According to government statistics, passenger arrivals through the mini-links ferry services between the Taiwan-controlled islands and ports in China s Fujian Province hit 985,000 in Kinmen in the first eight months of (By Yin Chun-chieh and Jay Chen) Enditem/pc Taiwan to crack down on Chinese money as elections heat up

4 Taipei, Oct. 26 (CNA) The Ministry of Justice said Sunday it will launch an investigation into alleged use of Chinese money for influence peddling as campaigns heat up ahead of the Nov. 29 local government elections. In a report sent to the Legislative Yuan, the ministry said it will crack down on political parties and other organizations suspected of accepting political donations from mainland Chinese citizens. Administrative fines will be levied on political parties or organizations found to be violating the nation s election law, added the ministry. Officials will present the report to the Legislature s Judicial and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee Monday. To prevent vote buying and other irregularities, the Justice Ministry said in addition to keeping a close eye on Chinese money aimed at buying votes in Taiwan, it is taking two extra steps to monitor local money flows in the coming weeks. First, it is setting up a one-stop center for coordinating the gathering and sharing of financial information among farmers associations, fisherman s associations and financial institutions across the country. Local farmers and fishermen s association, along with irrigation associations, are traditionally a hotbed for vote buying practices due to their influence in local communities.

5 Second, the ministry will speed up analysis of flows of large amounts of money during the final stage of campaigns from Nov. 14 to polling day on Nov. 29 to detect possible votebuying activities. This is aimed at nipping in the bud any attempt at vote buying, the ministry said. It also reminded candidates in the upcoming municipal, city and county government and council elections to file reports to the Control Yuan in accordance with the political donations law. (By Wen Kuei-hsiang and S.C. Chang) Enditem/WH More Taiwanese businesses suffering losses in China: study Taipei, Oct. 26 (CNA) An increasing number of Taiwanese businesses operating in China, known as Taishang in Chinese, have suffered operating losses over the past years, according to a study conducted by the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers Association (TEEMA).

6 The percentage of losses-hit Taishang grew to 25.6 percent from 18 percent in 2008, while investors earning profits dropped to just 5.3 percent from 11.6 percent, according to the survey of businesses conducted this year. The project manager of the survey, business administration professor Leu Horng-der of Chung Yuan Christian University, said the figures indicate that Taiwanese investors are faced with increasingly tougher environment in maintaining their operations in China. China s economy has been undergoing structural adjustment since President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang consolidated leadership of the rising world power in 2013, Leu said. The Chinese yuan has since devalued and the expansion of financial services into cyberspace has opened the finance sector to increasing security threats, he said, calling those situations disadvantageous for Taishang. Data in the TEEMA report also showed that challenges facing Taiwanese investors and businesspeople include a slowdown in China s economic growth, rising manpower costs, competition from maturing Chinese enterprises, grey areas in laws and regulations and administrative inefficiency at the local government level. (By Milly Lin and Elizabeth Hsu) ENDITEM/WH Taiwan must adjust industrial

7 structure to break trade barriers: Ma Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) Taiwan cannot just rely on other countries offers to cut tariffs, President Ma Ying-jeou said Friday, stressing that what the country must do now is adjust its industrial structure, and the adjustment must be done as soon as possible. Taiwan must turn itself from an efficiency-driven economy into one that is innovation-driven, Ma said while meeting with visiting American professor Michael Porter, the world s renowned authority on corporate strategy and business competition. Addressing trade challenges Taiwan faces, Ma told Porter that the obstacles are from both inside and outside the country. First of all, none of Taiwan s major trade partners maintain diplomatic links with the country; and despite their willingness to do business with Taiwan, they seem to hesitate on proposals to forge free trade or economic cooperation agreements, Ma said. Currently, only 9.69 percent of Taiwan s exports are covered by free trade accords or similar agreements, far smaller than the 36 percent of its key competitor South Korea and Singapore s 70 percent. Compared with them, Taiwan is in an

8 extremely laggard condition, Ma said. In order for Taiwan to free itself from such a trade barrier, it must not ignore China, the president said. However, Taiwanese people have a very deep mainland China complex, which means they are terrified they would be hurt by the mainland, said Ma. In Taiwan, relations between Taiwan and China have often been marked by misunderstandings and have been twisted because some people in the country still embrace protectionism, Ma said. He called it a normal situation and admitted it can t be changed overnight. For the barriers to be removed, what Taiwan needs is not tariff-cuts by its trade partners, but its transformation from an efficiency-driven economy to innovation-driven one, said Ma. While maintaining its traditional industries, Taiwan must solidify its pillar industries and cultivate emerging industries, said Ma. That means the manufacturing sector must improve its services, the services sector must become globalized and be equipped with technologies, and the traditional industries must have unique features, he said. Taiwan has been working to promote such industrial upgrades and transformation. It s just we are not fast enough, Ma said. At the talks with Ma, Porter suggested Taiwan should heed its relatively low wages and decreasing worker participation if it wants to remain competitive. He also advised Taiwan s government to encourage greater participation in the workforce by women and immigrants as the country s population ages. Porter, a Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, is a six-time winner of the McKinsey

9 Award for the best Harvard Business Review article of the year and the developer of the Five Forces framework that is used to analyze the level of competition within an industry and business strategy development. The concepts of efficiency-driven and innovation-driven economies, as well as factor-driven economies, have been used by the World Economic Forum for its annual reports. Factor-driven economies are countries where basic conditions such as low-cost labour and unprocessed natural resources are the dominant basis of competitive advantage and exports. Efficiency-driven economies refer to countries whose competitiveness comes from producing more advanced products and services highly efficiently. As for innovation-driven economies, they are used to describe countries with the ability to produce innovative products and services that are at the forefront of global technology trends. An innovation driven economy is characterised by distinctive producers, a high share of services in the economy, and a strong resiliency to external shocks. (By Lin Shu-yuan and Elizabeth Hsu) ENDITEM/cs Global PC market growth expected to be flat in 2015

10 Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) The president of Nuvoton Technology Corp., a Taiwan-based semiconductor manufacturer, expects global personal computer (PC) shipments in 2015 to be about the same they were in Sean Tai, who became president of the company early this year, said at an investors conference Friday that the PC market will not show much growth next year because replacement buying is not likely to be any stronger than it has been in About 150 million PCs were shipped globally in the first half of the year, Tai said, and he anticipated that 300 million units would be shipped for the year as a whole, down from the 310 million to 320 million units shipped in Shipments in 2015 will be roughly the same as this year, he predicted. Addressing Nuvoton s third quarter results, Tai said the company s semiconductors for PCs and consumer electronics did well in the third quarter, but weakness in its contract semiconductor business caused a 5.4 percent decline in overall revenues from a quarter earlier. The contract semiconductor business suffered because customers were adjusting inventories after two brisk quarters of growth, Tai said. He anticipated that the company s semiconductors for PC and consumer electronics use as well as its contract manufacturing

11 business will all face slowdowns in the fourth quarter, a traditionally slow season for the semiconductor sector. Nuvoton Technology, which went public in September 2010 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, specializes in microcontrollers and mixed signal and IC products for cloud computing and related applications. (By Chang Chien-chung and Elizabeth Hsu) ENDITEM/ls Minimum wage hikes to benefit foreign workers Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou said Friday that the fruits of the country s economic growth should not all be given to the rich and that the government has accordingly decided to adjust the nation s minimum wage upward again in July Ma made the remarks when he met a delegation of Taiwanese expatriates in the United States at the Presidential Office. The adjustment of the minimum wage is expected to benefit local workers, as well as around 530,000 foreign workers in

12 Taiwan. Taiwan s monthly and hourly minimum wages currently stand at NT$19,273 (US$634) and NT$115, respectively. The minimum monthly wage will go up by 3.81 percent, or NT$735 per month, to reach NT$20,008, while the minimum hourly wage wil be increased by 4.3 percent to NT$120, according to an announcement by the Executive Yuan last month. (By Kelven Huang and Lilian Wu) ENDITEM/J Taichung to host first East Asian Youth Games in 2019 Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) Taichung has won a bid against Mongolia to host the first East Asian Youth Games, slated for The East Asian Games Association (EAGA) voted in favor of Taichung at a council meeting in Beijing Friday, according to a Taiwanese delegation that attended the meeting. It will be the fourth major international sports event to be

13 held in Taiwan, after the 2009 Deaflympics in Taipei, the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung and the 2017 Universiade in Taipei. The East Asian Youth Games was formerly known as the East Asian Games, one of five regional games of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), which have been held every four years since The EAGA decided in 2013 to rename the East Asian Games the East Asian Youth Games and hold the event every five years, starting in The East Asian Youth Games will feature 12 sports that are not included in the Olympic Games. The participating countries are Mongolia, Japan, China, South Korea, North Korea, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Guam. The host country has the right to add up to three sporting events to the Games. On Friday, Taichung Mayor Jason Hu said the city s sincerity was the main factor behind its successful bid. During the bidding process, Taichung officials visited every member country of the EAGA and invited their representatives to Taichung, he said. The city is currently promoting a project to build facilities such as swimming pools, basketball and tennis arenas, and a new stadium, which will all be completed by 2019, the mayor said. (By Lee Yu-cheng, Chen Shu-fen and Y.F. Low) ENDITEM /pc

14 Minor planet officially named Taipei after discovery by Taiwan Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) A minor planet discovered by Taiwan s National Central University (NCU) in 2006 has been officially named Taipei, the university said Friday. The naming was finalized by the International Astronomical Union s Minor Planet Center on Sept. 9, NCU said. The minor planet, numbered , was discovered by Lin Hungchin, head of NCU s Lulin Observatory, and Chinese amateur astronomer Ye Quanzhi, using a 40-cm telescope at the observatory. Located within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Taipei moves in a near-circular elliptical path and takes 5.16 years to orbit around the sun, according to NCU. The size, mass and density of Taipei remain unclear. It was in an area between Capricornus, Sagittarius and Microscopium when it was discovered in 2006 and is now within Leo, NCU said. The university said the name Taipei was chosen in recognition of the capital city s long-term efforts to promote

15 astronomy education. On Friday, NCU President Jou Jing-yang presented a memorial plaque and a model of the minor planet to Deputy Taipei Mayor Tim Ting, who was representing the city government. NCU s Graduate Institute of Astronomy has discovered over 800 asteroids. Taipei is the 27th that has been named and the 10th named after a Taiwanese county or city. The other nine are Chiayi, Nantou, Chungli, Taoyuan, Miaoli, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Taichung and Penghu. (By Ku Chuan and Y.F. Low) ENDITEM/pc Taiwan needs friendlier foreign investment policies: U.S. strategist Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) Taiwan needs to adopt friendlier policies and regulations to make it cheaper and easier for foreign companies to do business here, American professor Michael Porter, a leading authority on

16 corporate strategy, said Friday in Taipei. Over the past decade, Taiwan has outperformed its competitors in the region, such as South Korea, but must do more to improve government efficiency and the rule of law to build a sounder business environment, Porter said. Such efforts could help attract foreign investments in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), thus making Taiwan more open to new ideas, more connected to the world, and therefore more competitive, Porter said during his third visit to the country. The government should also help to build industry clusters, Porter suggested, citing the example of Massachusetts Life Sciences Center in the United States, where close interactions among research centers, venture capitals and academic institutions have achieved vigorous development in life science. As Taiwan is facing an aging population, he said, the government should encourage greater participation in the workforce by women and immigrants. The country should also work on its environmental policies because that is the foundation for sustainable business, according to Porter. Besides taking a more proactive role in doing business with China, Taiwan needs to work more closely with regional partners, said Porter, whose expertise on the competitiveness of nations and regions is recognized globally by governments, corporations, non-profits, and other academics. While exploring the Chinese market is important, integration into the regional economy, into blocs such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is also vital, he said. During a conversation with President Ma Ying-jeou earlier in

17 the day, Porter also emphasized the importance of keeping a positive relationship with China. Wholesome cross-taiwan Strait relations could also boost other countries interests in investing in Taiwan, he said. In addition, Taiwan should target the great potential in China s service industry as there remains much room for development, Porter said, adding that existing trade barriers between the two sides should be eliminated. Porter, a Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, is a six-time winner of the McKinsey Award for the best Harvard Business Review article of the year and the developer of of the famous Five Forces framework that is used to analyze the level of competition within an industry and business strategy development. (By Lee Hsin-Yin) ENDITEM/pc/J