Taiwan and Nauru yesterday signed an aviation services agreement, marking the beginning of bilateral cooperation in air transportation between the two nations.
The pact was signed by Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Nauruan President Lionel Aingimea at a ceremony witnessed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
Under the agreement, Taiwanese and Nauruan commercial flight operators are allowed to operate inbound and outbound flight services between the two nations.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Nauru Airlines last month sent representatives to Taiwan to discuss airline cooperation, such as extending its flight routes to Taipei, Tsai said.
Tsai told Aingimea that she was looking forward to the start of direct flights between Taiwan and Nauru, which would further people-to-people exchanges between the diplomatic allies.
Nauru Airlines at present is the only commercial airline that flies from Taiwan to Nauru, with connections to Brisbane, Australia; Tarawa, Kiribati; Nadi, Fiji; and Majuro, the Marshall Islands.
Tsai thanked Aingimea for voicing his support for Taiwan in Madrid at the just-concluded 25th Session of the Conference of the Parties, organized by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Nauru is looking forward to building a brighter future with Taiwan, Aingimea said.
“Taiwan has strongly supported Nauru’s infrastructure and economic development. When Nauru experienced a financial crisis in the 1990s, it was Taiwan that helped revive the operations of Nauru Airlines,” he said.
Following the signing ceremony, Aingimea was treated to some stinky tofu, with Tsai saying that the dish was chosen because the Nauruan president had previously mentioned to her that he would “like to try it the next time I am in Taiwan.”
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