The government on Monday officially opened a new representative office in Milan, giving it a second office in Italy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
The office’s first head, former deputy representative to Italy Riccardo Lin (林讚南), presided over a plaque unveiling ceremony to mark the launch, the ministry said in a news release.
The ceremony was also attended by Italian Senate Vice President Gian Marco Centinaio and Italian Chamber of Deputies Foreign Affairs Committee Vice President Paolo Formentini, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) addressed the ceremony attendees in a prerecorded video, it said.
Taiwan’s other representative office in Italy is in Rome.
The Milan office would help Taiwan facilitate closer trade and economic links with northern Italy, the ministry said.
Taiwan already had a presence in Milan, Italy’s financial and business hub, prior to the opening of the office through the Taiwan Trade Center operated by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, which helps Taiwanese businesses enter foreign markets, while EVA Airways launched new passenger services between Taipei and Milan in October last year.
The new representative office is to offer consular and emergency services to Taiwanese living and working in eight administrative regions in northern Italy: Aosta Valley, Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige, the ministry said.
The “Ufficio di Rappresentanza di Taipei in Italia-Ufficio di Milano” or the Taipei Representative Office in Italy-Milan Office, is at Via Fabio Filzi, 25/A/P.12, 20124 in Milan.
Its phone number and e-mail address are 39-3343-838-604 and mil@mofa.gov.tw. Taiwanese who need emergency services can call the office’s 24/7 hotline at 39-3342-222-171.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man