Mongolia’s trade and economic office in Taipei is to have a new representative next month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, expressing the hope that bilateral relations between the two nations would improve further.
Ulaanbaatar Trade and Economic Representative Office Representative Khaliun Panidjunai would leave his post early next month after heading the office for more than two years, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Liu Bang-zyh (劉邦治) said.
The new representative, Zolzaya Lkhagvasuren, is scheduled to take office in the middle of next month, Liu told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
Relations between Taiwan and Mongolia have been growing steadily since 2002, when the two sides established mutual representative offices to boost ties, including in the areas of trade, tourism and education, Liu said.
“Bilateral trade between Taiwan and Mongolia grew by 258.72 percent in 2017, surging from US$12.5 million in 2016 to US$44.84 million,” Liu said, adding that sales of basic industrial products, clothes, foods and mechanical parts accounted for most of the growth.
The number of tourists to and from Mongolia has been rising, with some tourism agencies offering medical tours to Taiwan, Liu said.
Taiwan’s good education system and democratic way of life have made the nation one of the most popular destinations for study among young Mongolians, he said, adding that there are 1,400 Mongolian students in Taiwan and that the number has been growing.
In related news, Eswatini Minister of Economic Planning and Development Thambo Gina and her husband are to visit Taiwan from Feb. 17 to 21 to deepen bilateral ties, Liu said.
Swazi Minister of Foreign Affairs Thulisile Dladla, who is the African nation’s first female foreign minister, would follow them, visiting Taiwan from Feb. 24 to 28, he added.
Eswatini’s new Cabinet was sworn in in November last year. The nation is Taiwan’s sole African diplomatic ally after Burkina Faso severed ties with Taiwan in May last year.
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