President of Haiti Jean-Bertrand Aristide is slated to lead a 30-member delegation that will reach Taipei next Tuesday for a five-day state visit, sources told the Taipei Times yesterday.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Katharine Chang (
"President Aristide will arrive in Taipei on the morning of the 16th, and will meet with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), on the 17th," Haiti Ambassador to Taiwan Lafontaine Saint-Louis said.
Chen will preside over a 21-gun salute to his counterpart from Haiti on Wednesday morning before meeting his guest from afar.
He will then entertain the delegation with a national banquet in the evening, said James Huang (
Aristide, who was sworn in for a second term as president of Haiti in February of last year, is also scheduled to visit a telecommunications company as well as a pharmaceutical firm, Ambassador Saint-Louis said.
"We are in the process of modernizing the telecommunications systems in Haiti," said the ambassador, adding that the slated meeting with the telecommunication firm in Taiwan should be helpful to the Haiti's ongoing modernization project.
Members of the delegation, composed of 14 officials and around 16 Haitian business leaders, will also discuss investment opportunities in Haiti with their counterparts in Taiwan, sources said.
During the delegation's trip in Taiwan, Haitian Foreign Minister Joseph Antonio, in the name of Haiti's president, is expected to award a medal to Premier Yu Shyi-kun, the Haitian ambassador said.
Chen will also present medals of the Order of the Brilliant Star to the Haitian president as well as the foreign minister, the Presidential Office said.
Meanwhile, concerning the premier's planned Caribbean trip, Chang said that "the new Costa Rican president was just inaugurated, so the premier plans to visit Costa Rica to cement personal ties with the new leader."
By winning the run-off presidential elections on April 9 this year, Abel Pacheco guaranteed his ruling conservative Social Christian Unity Party a second term in office.
A psychiatrist and TV commentator, Pacheco took office on May 8 and has vowed to continue free market reforms in Costa Rica.
Yu will visit Panama to cement ties between Taiwan and Panama after years of Beijing's interference between the two countries, Chang added.
Susana Richa de Torrijos, vice speaker of Panama's parliament, is currently leading a delegation to visit Beijing, revealed a foreign ministry official, who declined to be named.
China in recent years has also set up representative offices in Panama and Haiti although Beijing's presence in these two countries "would not go so far as pose any immediate threat" to Taipei's diplomatic ties with the two Central American states, the official added.
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