The Australian Office in Taipei yesterday announced that its new representative, Jenny Bloomfield, is to take office on Monday.
Bloomfield was director of the Victoria State Office of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Previously, she served as Australia’s ambassador to Greece and also served in Japan, Argentina and Iran, the office said in a statement.
Photo copied by Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
While she has never visited Taiwan, she can speak Mandarin, as well as Japanese, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian and Farsi, it said.
In announcing the new appointment, the office reaffirmed trade ties and shared values with Taiwan.
“Taiwan’s world-leading epidemic prevention has bolstered its reputation in Australia and on the global stage, and the challenges of the pandemic have deepened our cooperation,” the office said.
“Australia is a long-term, reliable supplier of energy, resources and services to Taiwan,” it said, adding that two-way investment in 2019 reached A$27 billion (US$20.7 billion at the current exchange rate) and trade from 2019 to last year totaled A$19 billion.
“Our interests intersect across many areas, such as education and vocational skills, energy innovation and investment, biotechnology, smart cities and multilateral affairs,” the office said.
Australia is also Taiwan’s second-most popular overseas study destination, it added.
Since 2004, Australia has granted more than 250,000 working holiday visas to allow young Taiwanese to live and work in Australia, office data showed.
Since 2015, the Australian government’s New Colombo Plan has awarded 37 scholarships and 1,007 mobility grants for Australian undergraduates to undertake study and work-based experiences in Taiwan, the data showed.
Outgoing Australian Representative to Taiwan Gary Cowan would return to Australia to take up a new government position, the office said.
Cowan has engaged in local activities, such as mountaineering, biking and swimming across the Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) in Nantou County, during his term in Taiwan.
Last year, he launched a “Rediscover Australia, Rediscover Taiwan” campaign, hoping that both sides would look at each other “afresh,” as he looked ahead to the office’s 40th anniversary in October this year.
At a meeting with Cowan last month, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) expressed the hope that Taiwan and Australia can sign an economic cooperation agreement.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
RSS