The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday that Denmark has become the ninth European country to recognize Taiwanese driver’s licenses.
Anne Hung (洪慧珠), director-general of the Department of European Affairs, made the announcement at a regular press briefing. The regulation took effect on July 1.
“Denmark, which terminated earlier privileges for ROC [Republic of China] citizens in 2007 because of EU regulations, decided recently to reinstate the treatment. This is a result of the efforts of our representative office in Denmark,” Hung said.
Hung said nine European countries have reciprocal recognition of Taiwanese driver’s licenses — Denmark, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary and Finland.
Meanwhile, Hung called on the public to pay special attention to personal safety while traveling abroad, saying that a Taiwanese national was in a coma after a rafting accident on July 17 in Bern, Switzerland.
Declining to give more details about the person, Hung said that after being notified by Swiss police, the ministry’s representative office in Geneva informed the victim’s family and helped them obtain Swiss visas to fly immediately to Switzerland.
In related news, a Europe-Taiwan youth summer program sponsored by the ministry is scheduled to open next week to promote interaction between young people.
Hung said the program had been flooded with applications from young Europeans.
“MOFA hopes that through this activity, young people in Europe will haver an occasion to learn more about Taiwan, while it will help us create more connections in Europe,” Hung said.
She said the exchange program consisted of workshops from next Tuesday to Aug. 10 and from Aug. 18 through Aug. 31, with each attended by more than 70 people from Europe and Africa.
The group will participate in a variety of activities with Taiwanese youth and will visit government agencies, cultural sites and other tourist destinations, Hung said.
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STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
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