The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday announced that Taiwanese can now obtain a driver’s license in all Canadian provinces without having to take written and road tests after it inked a reciprocal driver’s license agreement with Newfoundland and Labrador.
Department of North American Affairs Director-General Remus Chen (陳立國) said the government yesterday signed the agreement with the province, which took effect immediately, concluding its mission to ink similar agreements with all 10 Canadian provinces.
Under the agreement, licensed drivers from the signatory nations or areas are allowed to obtain a driver’s license in each others’ territory without having to take local tests.
“The latest agreement will bring greater convenience to Taiwanese who plan on working, studying or living in Newfoundland and Labrador in the future,” Chen said.
The ministry began its push for the reciprocal agreement with Canada in 2008, with Quebec being the first province to ink a deal in June that year.
“After a decade, we have finally acquired [the agreement of] all 10 Canadian provinces,” Chen said, adding that the agreements have benefited a total of 4,848 Canadians and Taiwanese as of December last year.
In addition to Canada, the government has inked deals with 29 US states and territories, 12 South and Central American countries, 12 European states, 26 nations and areas in the Asia-Pacific region and 15 countries and areas in West Asia and Africa, ministry’s Web site showed.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
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