Ambassador Calvin Ho Speaks Of Taiwan-SVG Accomplishments.
Under the guidance of our Steadfast Diplomacy and to strengthen ties with diplomatic allies, we continuously operated cooperation projects such as the Taiwan Scholarship, education programs, agricultural projects, public health projects, ICT projects and many others.
This year, Taiwan is promoting inclusion in the United Nations under the theme “UN Global Goals: Taiwan Can Help.”
It is calling for the people of Taiwan to enjoy rights equal to those of other world citizens, and for the UN to not deprive the people of Taiwan of their right to visit UN premises and attend meetings.
It is also calling on the UN to ensure Taiwan’s right to equal, dignified participation in SDGs-related meetings, mechanisms and activities.
We are sincerely grateful for St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ unwavering and vocal endorsement for Taiwan’s international participation. We appreciate very much the appeal from Hon. Prime Minister Gonsalves to the United Nations for opening its arms to Taiwan, and urge for respecting the right of Taiwan’s participation in the work of specialized agencies of the UN during his speech at the General Debate two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, due to China’s interference, Taiwan was unable to attend this year’s World Health Assembly.
However, the Hon. Minister of Health, Wellness and the Environment Luke Browne together with representatives from other 23 countries, spoke directly or indirectly in support of Taiwan at this year’s WHA Plenary Session.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1981, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and St. Vincent and The Grenadines have been reliable and firm partners in the fields of infrastructure, agriculture, public health, information technology, education, and human resources development.
I am forthright to say that Taiwan is a valuable partner. Just look at the way we implement our bilateral projects. We have always worked closely together with our Vincentian counterparts.
Argyle International Airport perfectly exemplifies our bilateral cooperation. Last year in February, we witnessed together the opening of this historic landmark.
This year, we have seen more and more nonstop international flights will be flying to Argyle International Airport.
Taiwan is so pleased and honored to have been involved in this project, especially in the construction of the beautiful terminal building.
We are also delighted to join the handrail refurbishment project of the Rabacca Bridge in North Windward, which officially named Yurumein-Taiwan Friendship Bridge.
The bridge connects the people from two sides of Rabacca River, as well as the friendship of our two countries.
As with St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Taiwan regards education as a top priority for our children’s future. In August, we sent 20 more Vincentian students to pursue degrees in Taiwan under our scholarship programs.
This takes the total number of scholarship recipients to 163 since 2004, and it does not include those who managed to apply for the scholarships offered by universities in Taiwan on their own.
In addition to scholarship funding, Taiwan is committed to sponsoring SET and YES programmes.
Every year, we contribute to assist about 500 to 600 young people in participating in YES programme.
In the area of public health, aside from the regular medical missions and training programmes, we dispatched in August a medical team of the Changhua Christian Hospital in Taiwan to assist the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital for 2 weeks.
Our two Governments have signed an Agreement on the “Capacity Building Project for the Prevention and Control of Diabetes in SVG”. With the support and assistance of Taiwan’s hospital, this marks the first time our International Development and Cooperation Fund (ICDF) has teamed up with a domestic medical institution on a diabetes prevention project.
In the part of agriculture, we are implementing “Banana Revitalisation Project”, which will share our experiences and help local farmers to plant products with technical support to improve fruit yield and against related disease.
In the field of ICT, our “Electronic Document and Records Management System Project” will be finished at the end of this year, now we are working on a new e-Bus/CCTV project, to see how we may integrate the CCTV with e-Bus system, it would provide local passengers a safer commuting alternative and work with the police agency to prevent and combat crime.
As we celebrate the 107th birthday of the Republic of China (Taiwan), I’d like to take this opportunity to once again express our sincere appreciation to the Government and people of St. Vincent and The Grenadines for this wonderful friendship we have both long cherished.
