President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will today welcome President Elias Antonio Saca of El Salvador at a grand ceremony to be held at Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
Saca and his wife, Ana Mixco, arrived in Taipei last night for a six-day official visit, marking their first visit to the country since Saca assumed his presidency in June.
Chen is expected to award Saca with the "Order of Brilliant Jade with Grand Cordon," -- the nation's highest decoration for heads of state -- in recognition of his contribution in promoting Taiwan-El Salvador relations.
In addition, Chen will host a state banquet tonight at the Taipei County Grand Hall in honor of Saca and his wife.
Accompanied by El Salvadoran Foreign Minister Francisco Lanez, Agricultural Minister Antonio Salaverria and senior business leaders, Saca is expected to discuss bilateral cooperation on tourism, the electronics industry and trade during his stay, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) officials.
39 year-old Saca, a member of the Nationalist Republican Alliance party, was elected president this March. Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) attended Saca's inauguration in June on behalf of Chen.
El Salvador is one of the 26 countries that has formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
In addition to visiting with Chen and other government officials, Saca will visit the Legislative Yuan and attend the Democratic Pacific Assembly slated to be held in Taipei Friday and Saturday, during which he will give a speech.
Meanwhile, Chen is planning to visit two diplomatic allies -- Belize and Panama -- in Central America later this month, but the schedule and location of Chen's stopover in the US remains undecided, pending further negotiation.
The schedule for Chen's overseas visit will be finalized in the days ahead, said a Presidential Office source.
Due to the US' upcoming presidential election, the US stopovers will likely not include New York or Washington "so as not to make trouble for the US," the source said.
Saying that the upcoming trip "will be arranged as simply as possible," possible locations for the stopover include cities on the US west coast, the source added.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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