Marshall Islands Parliamentary Speaker Kenneth Kedi on Monday said that his nation would always support Taiwan based on the two nations’ shared values of freedom and democracy.
Kedi, who arrived on a four-day visit on Monday morning, told Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) at a meeting in Taipei that his nation’s parliament recently passed a resolution expressing the Pacific island nation’s support for Taiwan.
The resolution praises Taiwan’s democratic achievements, and affirms that Taiwan is a worthy partner for peace and prosperity in the region, Kedi said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The Marshall Islands was especially intent on passing the resolution at a time when China continues to heighten its hostility toward Taiwan and its allies because of its desire for peace and stability in the region, Kedi said.
Su thanked Kedi for helping seal a bilateral cooperation agreement on policing and another pact on strategic cooperation signed between the two nations last year.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who met with Kedi and his delegation at the Presidential Office later in the day, thanked the Marshall Islands for its firm backing of Taiwan.
Taiwan values highly its relations with the Pacific island nation and expects exchanges to continue to expand across a broad spectrum of fields, such as education, culture and medicine, Tsai said.
In related news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it is recruiting participants for its youth ambassador program to help build ties with nations in the Pacific, and South and Southeast Asia.
The ministry plans to recruit 75 Taiwanese aged 18 to 35 who are graduate or undergraduate students and send them on 10-day trips to two nations, Department of NGO International Affairs Director-General Scott Lai (賴銘琪) said.
The ambassadors would be divided into three groups of 25 delegates and visit the Solomon Islands and Kiribati, the Philippines and Malaysia, or Thailand and India, Lai said.
The program aims to enhance people-to-people exchanges between Taiwan and the targeted nations, he said.
The ministry is especially looking for participants who speak Malay, Lai said.
It is also hoping that people with expertise in healthcare, engineering or agriculture would sign up for the program, he added.
The ambassadors would visit non-governmental organizations and institutions in their areas of expertise in the targeted nations to make sure their skills are put to good use, Lai said.
Application forms can be downloaded from youthtaiwan.net and taiwanngo.tw.
Applications should be submitted before April 30.
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