Chien off to visit to African allies

Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) will leave for Chad and Burkina Faso today for an eight-day visit, the foreign ministry announced yesterday.

The first leg of Chien's week-long visit to two of the nation's eight African allies is Chad.

A ministry press release said that Chien and Chad's President Idriss Deby will co-host the inauguration ceremony for two Taiwan-financed construction projects -- the Unity Bridge and the Taiwan Boulevard.

Construction on both projects began in February 1999 and will be completed on Sunday, the statement said. The completion of the two projects is expected to improve the communication between Chad's capital, N'Djamena, and the rest of the country, the statement said.

Chien is also slated to address Chad's parliament and meet with ranking government officials, the statement said.

From Chad, Chien and his delegation will head for Burkina Faso on Dec. 2.

There they will meet with senior government officials, as well as visit the ROC embassy and agricultural technical mission in the country.

Chien is also scheduled to inspect several bilateral cooperation schemes, such as the agricultural land development in Bagre and the Women's Handcraft Training Center of Ouagadougou, the press release said.

Chien's delegation includes several senior ministry officials, as well as Yang Tzu-pao (楊子葆), the secretary-general of the International Cooperation and Development Fund, the key government-funded agency overseeing foreign aid.