Mongolia’s trade and economic office in Taipei is to have a new representative next month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, expressing the hope that bilateral relations between the two nations would improve further.
Ulaanbaatar Trade and Economic Representative Office Representative Khaliun Panidjunai would leave his post early next month after heading the office for more than two years, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Liu Bang-zyh (劉邦治) said.
The new representative, Zolzaya Lkhagvasuren, is scheduled to take office in the middle of next month, Liu told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
Relations between Taiwan and Mongolia have been growing steadily since 2002, when the two sides established mutual representative offices to boost ties, including in the areas of trade, tourism and education, Liu said.
“Bilateral trade between Taiwan and Mongolia grew by 258.72 percent in 2017, surging from US$12.5 million in 2016 to US$44.84 million,” Liu said, adding that sales of basic industrial products, clothes, foods and mechanical parts accounted for most of the growth.
The number of tourists to and from Mongolia has been rising, with some tourism agencies offering medical tours to Taiwan, Liu said.
Taiwan’s good education system and democratic way of life have made the nation one of the most popular destinations for study among young Mongolians, he said, adding that there are 1,400 Mongolian students in Taiwan and that the number has been growing.
In related news, Eswatini Minister of Economic Planning and Development Thambo Gina and her husband are to visit Taiwan from Feb. 17 to 21 to deepen bilateral ties, Liu said.
Swazi Minister of Foreign Affairs Thulisile Dladla, who is the African nation’s first female foreign minister, would follow them, visiting Taiwan from Feb. 24 to 28, he added.
Eswatini’s new Cabinet was sworn in in November last year. The nation is Taiwan’s sole African diplomatic ally after Burkina Faso severed ties with Taiwan in May last year.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant