Shin Chi-chih (辛繼志) has been named Taiwan’s new envoy to Ivory Coast, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is preparing to reopen its representative office in the West African country soon, a ministry official said yesterday.
Shin, a former representative in Provence, France, arrived in the African country late last month to prepare for the reopening of the office following its closure in 2017, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Deputy Director Wu Cheng-wei (吳正偉) said.
Wu said preparations for the office’s reopening were still ongoing, and did not provide an estimate for its completion.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Shin, who graduated from the Taipei-based Chinese Culture University after studying French there, served at the representative office in Paris, the Department of West Asian and African Affairs, and as a minister at the embassy in Haiti, before being chosen as the first envoy to head Taiwan’s representative office in Provence when it opened in 2020.
Taiwan and Ivory Coast ended official diplomatic relations in 1983, but the Ministry of Economic Affairs operated a Taiwan Economic Bureau in the country until January 2017, MOFA said.
The office was shut due to concerns about business operations, it said, but did not elaborate.
Since then, Taiwan’s trade office in Nigeria and its representative office in France have been jointly responsible for overseeing its affairs in Ivory Coast, MOFA said.
Taiwan and Ivory Coast last year reached an agreement to reopen the office, which is to be named Bureau de Representation de Taipei en Cote d’Ivoire in French and the Taipei Representative Office in Ivory Coast in English.
With an area of 320,000km2, Ivory Coast has a population of nearly 26 million people.
The nation also has the fastest-growing economy in Africa, with GDP growth reaching 7.4 percent in 2017 and 6.9 percent in 2018, MOFA said, citing World Bank data.
The country is also rich in natural resources including cocoa, coffee, oil and gold, making it a springboard for Taiwanese business ventures throughout the region, it added.
Taiwan only has one African nation among its 14 diplomatic allies, Eswatini.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
RSS