A cross-ministerial delegation is later this month to visit Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Lithuania, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday.
Department of European Affairs Director Remus Chen (陳立國) said the delegation of officials from the foreign ministry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Education would visit the three EU member states later this month.
The trip aims to enhance bilateral cooperation with the three countries on talent cultivation and business opportunities, Chen said, without elaborating.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
Neither did Chen provide information on the delegation’s itinerary, saying only that it would be announced later.
The trip comes after a delegation led by National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) visited the same countries in October last year.
During that trip, Kung’s delegation signed 18 nonbinding memorandums of understanding related to cooperation in sectors including science parks, electric vehicles, smart cities and tourism.
Kung invited Slovak Second State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy Karol Galek to visit Taiwan, which he did in December, leading a delegation of 18 senior officials and 25 business representatives.
It was the highest-level and biggest Slovak delegation to visit Taiwan since the two countries opened reciprocal representative offices in 2003.
Taiwan’s relations with Slovakia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic have improved over the past few years, despite pressure from China.
The three EU countries donated a total of more than 850,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan, after Taipei donated personal protective equipment to European countries in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aside from Kung’s delegation, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) also made a rare visit to Slovakia and the Czech Republic in late October and early November last year.
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