St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew called on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in Taipei Tuesday for talks on strengthening bilateral cooperation.
During the meeting, Drew sought to underline St. Kitts and Nevis’ commitment to maintaining diplomatic relations with Taiwan, saying that he was confident “our relationship will continue to grow from strength to strength, elevating our peoples to unprecedented heights of development.”
“Madam president, I wish to assure you of our firm commitment to building and further strengthening the diplomatic relations, which we established close to four decades ago,” said Drew, who arrived in Taiwan on Monday for a four-day visit.
The meeting, during which Donya L. Francis, the Caribbean nation’s new ambassador to Taiwan, presented his credentials to Tsai, was held at the Presidential Office following a ceremony featuring military honors to welcome Drew and his delegation.
Drew’s delegation also includes Foreign Minister Denzil Douglas, Premier of Nevis Island Mark Brantley, Minister of Environment Joyelle Clarke, and Junior Minister for Youth Empowerment and Social Development, Gender Affairs, Aging and Disabilities Isalean Phillip.
According to Drew, his country is keen to strengthen cooperation with Taiwan to build human resource capacity and improve health care services in the Caribbean nation.
Drew said the Caribbean nation placed “a laser-sharp focus” on developing its human resource base, adding that fostering talent was key to “our continued development.”
With that in mind, he said that his delegation looked forward to discussions with Taiwan’s government to “ensure that a large number of our young people receive tertiary education at the excellent universities and other institutions of higher learning in Taiwan.”
Drew also expressed hope that health care infrastructure and service delivery in his country could be improved in collaboration with Taiwan.
At the same time, he pledged to continue supporting Taiwan’s participation in international organizations.
“Taiwan can help the global community to solve complex global problems” related to health, the environment, and economics, he said.
At the earlier welcome ceremony, Drew said the government of St. Kitts and Nevis was “always ready to use its influence in international fora to advocate for values and principles, which we share with the Republic of China, Taiwan.”
Meanwhile, Tsai said Taiwan hoped to bolster its cooperation with the Caribbean ally in various areas while deepening the two countries’ diplomatic alliance.
“In particular, we believe that Taiwan can provide the best experiences of medicine and health insurance, which are both issues of significant interest to Prime Minister Drew,” Tsai said.
The president added that she looked forward to even closer exchanges between Taiwan and St. Kitts and Nevis with the assistance of Ambassador Francis.
Drew, a 45-year-old former medical doctor, was elected prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis in August following victory for his Labor Party in a snap general election.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel