Somaliland has the right to engage in foreign relations with other nations and intends to deepen ties with Taiwan, the self-ruling east African state’s top diplomat said at a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday.
“As a sovereign nation, Somaliland’s right to engage in peaceful and friendly foreign relations with all other nations is enshrined in international law,” Somaliland Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Essa Kayd said at the meeting.
Kayd is leading a delegation that arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday and includes several ministers.
Photo: AFP / Presidential Office
“All coercive or threatening measures to deny such collaboration between international partners not only represent an affront to the principle, protocols and norms on which the international order is based, but do little to promote the peace and security that the region and the world require,” he said.
SEEKING ALLIES
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 after years of conflict. It has offices in about a dozen countries, according to its foreign ministry’s Web site, but does not have formal diplomatic relations with any nation.
Somaliland has stepped up its efforts to seek support from other countries, such as the US, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi plans to visit Washington next month to explore areas for bilateral collaboration.
Its relations with Taiwan have been warming over the past few years, despite strong objection from China and Somalia, which claims sovereignty over Somaliland.
Taipei opened its representative office in Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, on Aug. 17, 2020, while Somaliland opened a reciprocal office in Taipei on Sept. 9, 2020.
The Somaliland delegation’s visit to Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday marks “an important milestone” and serves as a testament to the strong and cordial relationship between the two sides, Kayd said.
This visit “signifies our mutual determination and resolve to upscale, expand and deepen our friendship and cooperation to new heights for the mutual benefits of our two countries,” Kayd said.
Tsai lauded Taiwan’s newly forged ties with Somaliland as one of her administration’s diplomatic breakthroughs.
AFRICA PROJECT
Both sides have developed extensive cooperation in agriculture, fisheries, education, energy and other areas, Tsai said, adding that Somaliland’s strategic location plays an important role in Taiwan’s implementation of its Africa Project.
She was referring to efforts launched by the government in 2017 to promote business and trade links with Africa, where it has only one diplomatic ally, Eswatini.
Kayd also pitched trade and investment opportunities to Taiwanese officials, saying that Somaliland has rich natural resources, such as hydrocarbon, oil, natural gas and coal, as well as other rare minerals.
The government welcomes Taiwanese companies to invest and do business in Somaliland, Kayd said, adding that it was ready to provide favorable financial and non-financial incentives.
“We are encouraging maximizing trade and investment potential rather than aid dependency,” he added.
Taiwan has been keen to show it is a selfless development partner for Somaliland and last month donated 150,000 doses of its domestically developed Medigen COVID-19 vaccine.
The Somaliland delegation is to meet with top foreign and economic officials, as well as representatives from state-run oil supplier, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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