US Agency for International Development (USAID) administrator Rajiv Shah will visit Taipei on Thursday and Friday, the highest---ranking US government official from US President Barack Obama’s administration to visit Taiwan, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday.
Shah is visiting Taiwan at the AIT’s invitation as part of his trip through Asia to celebrate the USAID-Taiwan relationship, as well as the country’s transformation into a democratic society, it said.
On Friday, Shah is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech at the opening of the “American Footsteps in Taiwan” international forum at the National Central Library.
Shah will meet President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and other senior officials and business leaders while in Taiwan, the AIT said.
As USAID marks the 50th anniversary of its establishment by former US president John Kennedy in 1961, Shah is visiting Taiwan to celebrate the historic relationship between USAID and Taiwan, AIT said in a press release.
Shah was sworn in on Dec. 31, 2009, as the 16th administrator of USAID, and he leads the efforts of more than 8,000 professionals in 80 missions around the world.
Few senior serving US government officials have visited Taiwan since Obama came into office.
In September, US Assistant Commerce Secretary Suresh Kumar visited Taiwan to promote US exports. At the time, Kumar was the most senior US official to visit Taiwan in five years. Former deputy trade representative Karan Bhatia visited in 2006 to promote Washington’s trade agenda.
Additional reporting by Staff Writer
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
RSS