Taiwan's permanent representative to the WTO, Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章), will return to Taipei later this month and make a speech at the European Chamber for Commerce and Trade (ECCT), sources said.
The ECCT has secured Yen to deliver a speech titled "How will Taiwan's government manage the WTO?" during a members' luncheon on March 26, according to the organization's schedule.
Yen submitted his credentials to the director-general of the WTO, Mike Moore, on Friday in Geneva.
At the time the former minister of finance said that he was looking forward to working with the WTO Secretariat and other WTO members.
When contacted by the Taipei Times, staffers at Taiwan's yet-to-be completed mission to the world trade body said Yen filled his itineraries yesterday with meetings with his counterparts in Geneva.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) and Minister of Economic Affairs Christine Tsung (宗才怡), during their first formal meeting yesterday following the latest government reshuffle, vowed to strengthen cross-ministerial coordination in the wake of Taiwan's accession to the WTO.
"The atmosphere during the meeting was amiable," Chien told the press after the meeting.
The two ministers during the meeting also endorsed draft regulations governing Taiwan's WTO mission, which was later approved by the Executive Yuan without a hitch, sources said.
John Deng (鄧振中), vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council and Stanley Kao (高碩泰), director-general of North American affairs under the foreign ministry, have said that they were informally notified of their new posts as deputy representatives to Taiwan's WTO delegation.
Both deputies may depart for Geneva to assume their posts early next month at the earliest, sources said.
Taiwan intends to utilize the mechanism of the WTO to enhance its ties with other WTO members, including China, in an attempt to emphasize the equal footing of Taipei and Beijing as organization members.
Taiwan entered the WTO on Jan. 1.
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