Taiwan hopes to play bigger role in regional economy

Taiwan hopes to regain its economic vitality so it can play a bigger role in Asia's economy, the island's leader Ma Ying-jeou told a forum Monday.

Ma made the comments while attending an economic forum held in Taipei, saying that Taiwan will restore growth by improving the economic environment, cementing its core advantages and promoting regional cooperation.

Ma said although it is predicted that Taiwan's economy will improve this year, it is too early to be optimistic as the International Monetary Foundation (IMF) has amended the global GDP growth estimate to 3.6 percent from 3.9 percent.

Added to this, many international companies have changed their strategy by moving key products back to their native countries.

However, Ma said the challenges cannot change Asia's role as a global economic engine, in which Taiwan should play a more positive and key role.

He said the island has advantages in information technology, and that Taiwan is interacting closely with the Chinese mainland, which is the center for Asia's development.

Last month, Taiwan's economic authorities set the GDP growth rate of 2013 at 3.8 percent, which is 0.65 percentage points higher than what the statistics authorities estimates.