Three Italian lawmakers are in Taiwan until Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday, hailing the group as the most senior from the European nation’s parliament to visit.
The delegation led by Italian Senate Vice President Gian Marco Centinaio and Senator Elena Murelli arrived on Wednesday and is to meet President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) during their stay, the ministry said in a news release.
It is the first Italian delegation to visit since the new Senate convened in October last year following the September election, it said.
Photo from Gian Marco Centinaio's Facebook
They are also scheduled to meet Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃), Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元), Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲), National Palace Museum director Hsiao Tsung-huang (蕭宗煌), Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) and Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲), it added.
The high-level visit demonstrates the close friendship between Taiwan and Italy, the ministry said, offering its “sincere welcome.”
Both senators are in the right-wing Lega party, the second-largest in Italy’s coalition government.
Italian media in April had reported that lawmakers were planning a visit, but the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation recommended that they postpone in light of increased Chinese military activity around Taiwan.
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