Premier Yu Shyi-kun today embarks on a 14-day trip to visit three diplomatic allies in the Caribbean, with transit stops in the US.
The visit will allow the premier to attend the inauguration of Dominican president-elect Leonel Fernandez on Monday and visit two other countries in Central America, Honduras and Nicaragua. The premier will transit in Los Angeles on his way to the Dominican Republic and stop over in New York on his way back to Taipei.
Briefing the 14 print and broadcast media outlets accompanying Yu during the upcoming trip, Government Information Office Director-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said that the main theme of the visit is to strengthen international cooperation and consolidate diplomatic ties with the nation's diplomatic allies in Latin America.
"The visit will focus on how to bring more talent from our diplomatic allies to come to Taiwan to study, invest, immigrate or provide technical know-how," Lin said.
"We'd also like to offer agricultural and vocational assistance to our diplomatic allies as well as sending elite students abroad for advanced studies," he said.
On the economic front, Lin said that the government is gearing up efforts to sign free trade agreements (FTAs) with diplomatic allies in Latin America, including Nicaragua, Guatemala, Paraguay and possibly other countries.
Taiwan signed its first FTA with diplomatic ally Panama last August and expects to sign a second one with Guatemala. However, the timetable for negotiation was disrupted when the Guatemalan government was reshuffled at the end of last year.
Paraguay and Taiwan signed a joint communique in Taipei in May, promising to conduct a bilateral economic cooperation conference in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion to further boost trade and economic exchanges.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has said he hope to see the two countries able to sign a FTA within a year to facilitate bilateral trade, investment and economic cooperation.
In addition to inking the bilateral trade pact, Lin said that the government is seeking multi-lateral technology cooperation with other countries to tap into the American market.
The upcoming trip will be Yu's second overseas visit to the region during his premiership, as he and a 60-member delegation visited four of Taiwan's diplomatic allies in Central America in August 2002. They had a two-day stopover in New York and a one-day stopover in Los Angeles on the return trip.
Central America is one of the nation's diplomatically important regions. Of the 33 countries in Latin America, 14 have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Billed as culture-oriented, the 11-day journey two years ago marked the premier's first official visit abroad since he took office on Feb. 1, 2002.
The trip was part of the nation's effort to consolidate relationships with its diplomatic allies following the defection of Nauru.
The nation had broken its 22-year-old diplomatic ties with Nauru one month earlier after the tiny Pacific island state established ties with China.
China offered US$60 million in financial aid and US$77 million in debt relief to the country, which has a population of just under 12,000.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has insisted that relations with the Dominican Republic remain firm, despite a senior Dominican Republic official's warning that his country may recognize Beijing.
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