Saint Lucian Deputy Prime Minister Ernest Hilaire has arrived in Taiwan for a five-day visit to enhance bilateral exchanges, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
Hilaire, who also serves as minister for tourism, investment, creative industries, culture and information, arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to a welcome from Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Ming-chi (陳明祺), MOFA said in a news release.
Hilaire is accompanied on the Taiwan trip by Minister for Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs Emma Hippolyte and Minister for Equity, Social Justice and Empowerment Joachim Andre Henry.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Aside from meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) and attending a banquet to be hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), the Caribbean ally delegation is to also make a trip to the Ministry of Culture and visit local cultural tourism sites, MOFA said.
The Saint Lucian delegates are also set to travel to Kaohsiung for a tour of its world-renowned yacht industry, it added.
Hilaire last visited Taiwan in 2023.
Saint Lucia is one of 12 states worldwide that recognize the Republic of China instead of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Both countries first established diplomatic relations in 1984, but ties were broken in 1997 when the Caribbean country switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
In April 2007, Taiwan and Saint Lucia re-established diplomatic relations, and the PRC consequently severed its ties with the latter.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS