A high-level delegation from self-governing East African state Somaliland led by its foreign minister will visit Taiwan from late Tuesday to Saturday, during which its members will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (???), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced Tuesday.
Led by Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Essa Kayd Mohamoud, members of the Somaliland delegation also include Minister of Finance Saad Ali Shire; Omar Abdilahi Ali, minister of health development; and Saeed Mohamed Sulub, minister of livestock and fishery development, MOFA stated in a press release.
During their stay in Taiwan, the delegation will also meet with Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (???), Economic Affairs Minister Wang Mei-hua (???), and other senior government officials, as well as representatives from Taiwan’s state-own state-run oil supplier, CPC Corp., to exchange views in further deepening bilateral cooperation, it said.
The visit marks Minister Mohamoud’s first visit to Taiwan after assuming the top diplomat post of Somaliland in September 2021, according to MOFA.
According to a post made by Somaliland’s foreign ministry, the delegation is to visit Taiwan in response to an invitation from MOFA.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 after years of conflict. It has offices in about a dozen countries, according to its foreign ministry’s website, but does not have formal diplomatic relations with any nation.
The relations between Taiwan and the self-governing state have been warming over the past years.
In February 2020, Taiwan and Somaliland signed an agreement to establish reciprocal representative offices. Taipei opened its office in Somaliland on Aug. 17 that year, while Somaliland opened its office in Taipei the following month on Sept. 9.
Taiwan donated a batch of 150,000 doses of the locally developed Medigen COVID-19 vaccine to Somaliland in late January.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel