Taiwan is planning a government-operated foreign investment fund that will target energy projects in the Gulf, as Asian countries become ever more willing to deploy state capital abroad. But despite a natural resources boom and a rapidly-strengthening currency, Canada's finance minister said his country has no plans to take a similar step.

Taiwan's new fund will be a public-private partnership, with the country's National Development Fund, a state investment fund previously focused primarily on the domestic economy, contributing about 40% of its capital.