The Paraguayan post office issued yesterday a new commemorative stamp set -- with Taipei 101 prominently featured -- in celebration of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Paraguay.
The main stamp -- the only one with postage -- describes the landmark Taipei skyscraper in Spanish as the world's tallest building.
To the right of Taipei 101, a tab features a guampa, a Paraguayan tea cup designed to contain the herb yerba mate, and an arpa, a Paraguayan musical instrument.
To the left of the Taipei 101 main stamp, another tab features a Taiwanese tea set and the yueching (月琴), a Taiwanese string instrument also known as a moon guitar.
The stamp was also unveiled at a ceremony yesterday morning at Taiwan's Postal Museum. The ceremony was jointly hosted by Taiwan Post and Paraguayan Post.
In attendance were Paraguayan ambassador to Taiwan Ramon Diaz Pereira; Minister of Transportation and Communications Tsai Duei (蔡堆), Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Katharine Chang (張小月) and the acting chairperson of Taiwan Post, Ho Nuan-hsuan (何煖軒).
In his speech, Diaz Pereira said that the Taiwan-Paraguay relationship over the past 50 years has been characterized by "a fecund cooperation between the two countries in political, economic and social fields."
"With the issuance of the commemorative stamps," he said, "the government of my country ... attests the importance that is attributed to this friendship forged through time and proven by events."
Tsai said that Paraguay is one of Taiwan's most important allies in South America.
"Even though the two are more than 20,000km apart, this does not daunt the determination of both to pursue universal truth," he said.
A collection of Paraguayan stamps will also be on display at the Postal Museum this weekend.
Paraguayan Post also issued a commemorative stamp set in 2002 in honor of the 45th anniversary of Taiwan-Paraguay relations.
The stamp set issued five years ago featured the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall and included stamps with the national flowers of both countries.
In the past, other allies have also issued stamps commemorating their friendship with Taiwan, including San Tome and Principe and Burkina Faso.
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