The Commerce Development Research Institute (referred as CDRI in the following) held the “New South in Progress – Grasping the Winning Business Opportunities in Asia – AESAN/India International Forum” on 16. Implied in the new south policy, there will be tremendous trade opportunities because there are 2 billion people in the Asian markets: 10 countries in the ASEAN and 6 countries in the South Asia. In order to help Taiwan businesses to explore markets in the new south, the Bureau of Foreign Trade, MOEA entrusted the CDRI to administer “Promotion Project of the Quality and Low Price Newly Developed Markets.” In the forum held recently, there were as many as 1600 participants. It was also the first time for the forum to be held simultaneously in both Taipei and Kaohsiung via the internet in order to serve the small and medium businesses in the southern Taiwan.

In this forum, experts in various fields and pioneers of Taiwan trade in the south were invited to envision and predict future developments in the new south, and brief the risks and challenges of operations those areas. In short, the core issues of the new south policy were fully discussed under one roof, saving businesses’ time in exploring and searching.

In this forum, in addition to inviting heavy buyers from AESAN and India to share information on local markets, it also invited experts in different fields and pioneers of Taiwan trade in the new south to envision and predict future developments in the new south, and brief the risks and challenges of operations those areas. In short, the core issues of the new south policy were fully discussed under one roof, saving businesses’ time in exploring and searching. In addition, the core issues of the new south policy were introduced in a comprehensive manner to shorten businesses’ time in exploring and searching. In the afternoon, Metrox Group, the leader of wholesale and retail businesses in Indonesia was invited to share the success and failure of the international brands entering Indonesia. RPG, the biggest food distributor in the Philippines analyzed the current conditions of the Philippines market further from the perspective of the ASEAN, and pointed out competitive advantages of Taiwan manufacturers in entering local markets to shatter the blind spot of entering those markets.