The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is looking to recruit 40 students as part of its annual youth ambassadors program to take part in a 10-day trip to Caribbean ally Saint Lucia that it hopes will enhance bilateral ties and broaden the students’ worldviews.
The ministry said it started accepting applications yesterday.
Applicants must be Taiwanese nationals aged 18 to 35 and be in a university or graduate school program in Taiwan, Department of NGO International Affairs Director-General Constance Wang (王雪虹) said.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
Taiwanese in that age group with a good command of English, or with special talents in the performing arts such as singing or dancing, are welcome to apply, she said.
Given that Saint Lucia’s economy is based on tourism and agriculture, the ministry is hoping to find four to five young Taiwanese who have won national-level cooking contests to join this year’s youth ambassador delegation, Wang said.
“We are hoping that their cooking skills can help connect people in the two countries and promote food diplomacy in the process,” she said.
Application forms can be downloaded from mofa.gov.tw and should be sent by registered mail to the Department of NGO International Affairs by June 30.
Those selected would need to undergo two weeks of training in Taipei before visiting Saint Lucia from Sept. 2 to 11.
Since its launch in 2009, the annual initiative has sent 1,800 youth ambassadors to other countries to take part in volunteer activities and seminars, and deliver cultural performances, the ministry said.
Trips were postponed in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In other developments, National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) on Monday met with visiting Research Council of Lithuania Chairman Gintaras Valincius to promote scientific research cooperation between the two countries, most notably in the field of laser and biomedical technologies.
Taiwan and Lithuania have had a close relationship in the past few years, and the two sides would seek to deepen bilateral scientific research cooperation, Wu said during his meeting with Valincius.
Valincius said he had been deeply impressed by Taiwan’s scientific research development during his previous visit, and since becoming head of Lithuania’s research council, he is promoting the signing of a cooperation agreement between the two sides.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
RSS