A Taiwanese legislative friendship group aimed at building closer ties with Kosovo on Monday was formed during a videoconference with the Kosovo-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, which was established at the same time.
The Taiwanese group, which is made up of 39 lawmakers from across party lines, was assembled by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), who is chairman of the group, while DPP Legislator Ho Chih-wei (何志偉) is the vice chairman, Lo’s office said in a statement.
The Kosovar Assembly’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora on June 15 approved a motion to establish a parliamentary group to develop ties with Taiwan.
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
The motion was proposed by five Kosovar lawmakers from across the political spectrum, including Adriana Matoshi of the ruling Levizja Vetevendosje party.
Lo then contacted the five lawmakers and they established the two parliamentary friendship groups to increase legislative exchanges, improve mutual understanding and expand the two nations’ international space, Lo’s office said.
Hailing the establishment of the legislature’s first parliamentary friendship group with a Balkan nation, Lo said that the videoconference was a major step in the development of relations between lawmakers in Taiwan and Kosovo.
The two nations have many things in common, such as the pursuit of sovereignty and democratic values, and both are struggling for economic survival and international recognition, he said.
When Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, Taiwan was among a handful of nations that immediately recognized its independence, he added.
Matoshi, who leads the Kosovo-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, did not attend the videoconference as she was in hospital, but several members of the group were present, including Blerta Deliu-Kodra of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, who is vice chairwoman of the group.
Deliu-Kodra said during the videoconference that there was plenty of room to expand exchanges between Taiwan and Kosovo, and that the establishment of the groups marked an important stage in the development of bilateral relations.
Most importantly, Taiwan and Kosovo, as two democratic nations, would fight against authoritarianism side by side, Deliu-Kodra said.
During the videoconference, the two groups agreed to conduct parliamentary exchanges, and facilitate economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.
They also welcomed visits by group members next year, a statement said.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS