Sat, Apr 01, 2023 page3

• Friendship group inaugurated in New Zealand legislature

  ‘TIMELY’: The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Taiwan was founded 10 years after the two sides signed an agreement to facilitate bilateral trade

  • By Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporter
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  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed gratitude and sent best wishes to New Zealand’s newly founded All-Party Parliamentary Group on Taiwan.

  Launched by New Zealand lawmakers Simon O’Connor and Ingrid Leary, the group has so far been joined by 22 cross-party lawmakers, the ministry said in a statement.

  O’Connor welcomed group members to support Taiwan by boosting economic and trade relations with the country, and helping efforts to maintain security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

  

  Representative to New Zealand Joanne Ou, front row second left, New Zealand lawmakers Simon O’Connor, front row second right, and Ingrid Leary, front row center, attend a meeting at New Zealand’s legislature in Wellington on Wednesday.

  Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

  The group’s formation is “timely,” as this year marks the 10th anniversary of free trade with Taiwan, which is the sixth-biggest trading partner of New Zealand, Leary wrote on Facebook, referring to the Agreement Between New Zealand and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Cooperation passed by the Legislative Yuan in 2013.

  New Zealand and Taiwan “share ancestral whakapapa, democratic values and a common interest in a stable Indo-Pacific region,” she said, using the Maori term for ancestry.

  Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵), who chairs the legislature’s Taiwan-New Zealand Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association, sent their best wishes via prerecorded videos, which were played at the inauguration of the group on Wednesday, the ministry said.

  Taiwan and New Zealand jointly helped launch the Indigenous Peoples Economic and Trade Cooperation Arrangement to help indigenous people establish international businesses, Wu said in the video.

  He called on the New Zealand parliament to support Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to deepen exchanges between the two countries.

  Deepening the ties between Taiwan and New Zealand is the consensus among lawmakers from the two nations, as evidenced by their legislatures launching parliamentary friendship groups, Lin said.

  She invited the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Taiwan to visit the nation to promote economic and trade exchanges, and jointly safeguard the values of freedom, democracy and human rights.

  Representative to New Zealand Joanne Ou (歐江安), who spoke at the ceremony, also called on the group to support Taiwan’s bid to join the CPTPP and other international organizations, the ministry said.

  “I am convinced that cordial relations between our two countries will reach new heights,” New Zealand news site Stuff quoted Ou as saying.
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