Taiwan and Saint Lucia have signed an agreement to boost employment and entrepreneurship among the younger generation in the Caribbean nation following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yesterday in Washington, Ambassador to Saint Lucia Peter Chen (陳家彥) and Saint Lucian Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre signed the letter of intent, which pledges 5.42 million Eastern Caribbean dollars (US$2.01 million) in support of a “Youth Economy” program led by the prime minister.
The agreement facilitates the “turning of hobbies into entrepreneurship and skills into business by providing finance, training, marketing and mentoring to young people seeking self-sustainable employment,” the Saint Lucian government said in a statement.
Photo courtesy of the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Saint Lucia via CNA
At the signing ceremony, Pierre thanked Taiwan for realizing its pledge to provide assistance to the youth and women of Saint Lucia.
“Youth Economy is one step in the pursuit of a dream to create a new economy based on technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, where young businesspeople will be participants and not merely observers,” Pierre said.
Chen said the program also aims to empower female entrepreneurs and integrate women into society through economic development.
“By building the capacity of aspiring entrepreneurs, enhancing business and employment, and fostering training opportunities in the post-pandemic period, Taiwan hopes to help dreams and aspirations become concrete and practical assets and goals,” Chen said.
The Saint Lucian government said that the signing ceremony signaled the Pierre administration’s commitment “to create an economy for the young.”
Saint Lucia is one of Taiwan’s 15 diplomatic allies at a time when Beijing has stepped up pressure on nations to isolate Taiwan in the international community.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS