The UN Sustainable Development Goals Advisory Council of Parliament was yesterday established under the Legislative Yuan, with lawmakers vowing to push the government toward achieving the goals.
The council selected Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) as chairwoman, and DPP legislators Karen Yu (余宛如) and Kolas Yotaka and New Power Party Legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal as vice chairwomen.
The council is devoted to urging and supervising the government toward formulating policies to achieve the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and to improve interactions between the government and non-governmental organizations in Taiwan and abroad, Lin said.
There is already an Association for Sustainable Development in the Legislative Yuan, which primarily focuses on environmental issues, but the council is to focus on broader issues, such as women’s rights, education and social welfare, Lin said.
Taiwan has encountered difficulties in participating in international bodies due to political constraints, but that should not deter the nation from taking up the responsibility of reaching the goals, Lin said.
“The discussion of Taiwan’s international participation has mainly focused on its isolation, but we should take more responsibilities, especially the goal of global partnership,” she said.
“Parliament-to-parliament exchanges with other nations can prevent Taiwan from becoming the missing piece in international relations and UN’s Sustainable Development Goals,” she said.
Taiwan can exercise its soft power internationally and make a reputation among leading nations by working on the sustainable development issues, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Chih-Chung Wu (吳志中) said.
Environmental Protection Administration Deputy Minister Thomas Shun-Kuei Chan (詹順貴) said that his agency, compared with other government bodies, has more opportunities in breaking the diplomatic deadlock, and sustainable development issues can be a starting point for improved diplomatic relations.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS