PeopleDailyNews Press Center-Reported by Michael D.Lin,March 18, 2010

TAIPEI, Taiwan --President Ma Ying-jeou met with former United States Senator Alfonse D'Amato at the Presidential Office on the morning of March 18 and expressed a warm welcome to Mr. D'Amato on his visit to Taiwan.

President Ma remarked that former Senator D'Amato was a tremendous friend to Taiwan when he was in the Senate, acting as a strong supporter of the Taiwan Relations Act and making many efforts to strengthen relations between the two countries. The president noted that Mr. D'Amato previously visited Taiwan in 2006. At that time, the president was still Taipei City Mayor and the two held discussions then. The president said that even though Mr. D'Amato has retired from government service, he still is clearly sparing no effort to support the ROC.

PeopleDailyNews Press Center-Reported by Michael D.Lin,March 16, 2010

TAIPEI, Taiwan --President Ma Ying-jeou on March 16 addressed the 2010 Hsieh Nien Fan banquet, an annual dinner party held by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham). He commented that Taiwan's economy is currently at a turning point in its recovery. He said that in an effort to generate a well-balanced economic turnaround, the government will make every effort to create jobs, promote innovation, encourage energy conservation and reduction of carbon emissions, and participate in regional economic integration. President Ma said the government hopes to create a new era in Taiwan-United States cooperation through wide-ranging interaction with AmCham's members.

Last year was a particularly tough year for Taiwan, the president said, listing the challenges the nation faced, including the financial tsunami, the outbreak of the H1N1 strain of influenza, and the devastation caused by Typhoon Morakot. However, Taiwan was able to overcome each one of these, he said.Taiwan's exports and imports grew an aggregate 54% and 77% in the first two months of this year, compared with the same period last year, he said. In addition, the consumer confidence index rose to 73.2, which was the highest level since November 2005. This data suggests that an economic recovery has already begun unfolding here, President Ma noted.