Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has met with Saint Lucian Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre and other senior officials during his latest stop on his trip to the Caribbean and Central America, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said.
After arriving in Saint Lucia on Monday morning, Lin and his delegation were greeted by Saint Lucian Senior Minister Stephenson King at the airport, MOFA said in a press release on Tuesday evening.
Lin then met with Pierre, and the two sides reaffirmed their joint commitment to enhancing bilateral relations and fostering economic prosperity, statements issued separately by the two governments said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Lin and his delegation also joined Pierre, Saint Lucian Minister for Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs Moses Baptiste and other Cabinet members to launch the i-Screen System app.
The app, developed through technical cooperation and knowledge sharing with Taiwan’s Cathay General Hospital, is aimed at enhancing the Saint Lucian Ministry of Health’s data collection capabilities, making health screenings more efficient and accessible, the Saint Lucian government’s statement said.
In addition, Lin met with the heads of the two houses of the Saint Lucian parliament — Senate Speaker Alvina Reynolds and House of Assembly Speaker Claudius Francis, who attended Taiwan’s Double Ten National Day earlier this month in Taipei.
Accompanied by Ambassador Peter Chen (陳家彥), Lin also attended a Taiwan-Saint Lucia Fair with Saint Lucian Minister of Agriculture Alfred Prospere to see how a Taiwanese government-funded project is helping farmers get their produce to market.
Saint Lucia is Lin’s third stop on his trip to five countries in Central America and the Caribbean, where six of Taiwan’s 12 formal diplomatic allies are located.
Making his first trip as foreign minister, Lin left Taiwan on Wednesday last week and is scheduled to return on Saturday.
He has already made stops in Guatemala and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and is to visit Belize and St Kitts and Nevis in the coming days before heading back to Taipei.
The only formal ally in the region Lin is not visiting on this trip is Haiti, given that country’s recent instability.
In each country on the trip, Lin is holding bilateral talks with leaders and high-ranking officials, and checking on the results of cooperative projects, MOFA said.
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