A group of Ukrainian parliamentarians, including Yulia Klymenko, who previously served as Ukrainian deputy minister of economic development and trade, are planning to visit Taiwan at the end of October, according to a Taiwanese lawmaker.
At the inaugural ceremony of the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliament Members Friendship Association at the Legislature on Tuesday, Huang Shih-chieh (黃世杰) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party said that several Ukrainian parliamentarians were planning to come to Taiwan for the 11th Global Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy (WMD).
According to Huang, the group formed in September consists of members of a Taiwan friendship caucus such as Klymenko, who currently serves as the first deputy chair of the Ukrainian parliament’s Committee on Transport and Infrastructure.
The cross-party friendship caucus, initiated by Ukrainian parliamentarian Oleksandr Merezhko, comprises 15 members.
Asked to comment on the matter, Joanne Ou (歐江安), spokeswoman of Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), said briefly at a press briefing on Thursday that the ministry would make an announcement at an appropriate time should any such visit is finalized.
At the inaugural ceremony, Huang said face-to-face exchanges between Taiwanese lawmakers and their Ukrainian counterparts would be an important step in promoting a bilateral relationship between the two countries.
He also said one of the long-term goals for the association, which currently has 41 members from different parties, was to facilitate the establishment of a representative office by Taiwan and Ukraine in each other’s countries.
The global assembly, scheduled for Oct. 25-27, will see approximately 300 democracy activists, experts, policymakers and donors from 70 countries gathering in Taipei to exchange ideas about countering authoritarian challenges and promoting democratic values, according to the WMD, a global network founded in 1999 with the aim of promoting democracy.
The three-day event will feature a conversation between Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and Merezhko, who heads the Ukrainian Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation, the WMD said on Oct. 7, without confirming whether Merezhko would attend the event in person.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel