President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday met with visiting former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo, an economist-turned-politician who is well known for attaining high economic growth for Peru during his presidency from 2001 to 2006.
Toledo received wide-ranging support from the Peruvian people during his presidential term and continues to take part in many international activities since stepping down, which has won him high acclaim worldwide, Ma said.
Toledo’s acceptance of Taiwan’s invitation to visit the country to discuss democracy issues makes Taiwan feel Toledo is “a friend of Taiwan in Latin America,” Ma said.
At the invitation of the New Taiwanese Cultural Foundation that Ma founded in 1999, Toledo was scheduled to deliver a speech titled “The Political Economy of Democracy: Poverty, Growth and Economy” today in Taipei.
During the five years of Toledo’s presidency, the Peruvian economy grew by an average of 6 percent, one of the highest growth rates in Latin America, while inflation averaged only 1.5 percent.
Toledo is also well-known for his efforts to reduce poverty in Peru with the launch of the Juntos program aimed at helping poor families provide education and basic care for their children.
Ma said he hopes Toledo will share his country’s democratic experience with Taiwan during his visit, noting that Taiwan’s democratic development underwent great hardships to achieve the first popular presidential election in 1996, the first transition of power from one political party to another in 2000 and a second transition of power this year.
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
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