A Lithuanian parliamentary group led by Matas Maldeikis, head of a Lithuania-Taiwan friendship group, has arrived in the country for a six-day visit, making them the first European delegation to visit the nation following the election of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Vice President William Lai (賴清德) on Jan. 13.
The 11-member cross-party delegation, or Seimas delegation, features three deputy speakers, namely, Vytautas Mitalas, Radvile Morkunaite-Mikuleniene and Julius Sabatauskas, who were welcomed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) head of European affairs Eric Huang (黃鈞耀) at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport early yesterday, MOFA said in a press release.
Huang previously served as Taiwan’s first representative to Lithuania from November 2021 until this month.
Photo: CNA
The group are to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Lai as well as Legislative speaker You Si-kun and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) to congratulate Lai’s election victory and Taiwan’s successful holding of another round of democratic elections to show solidarity between the two democracies, MOFA said.
During the group’s stay until Saturday, they are also to visit Taiwan’s National Security Council, Ministry of Economic Affairs, National Development Council and Hsinchu Science Park to exchange views on issues of mutual concern, it added.
Lai won Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, giving the DPP an unprecedented third consecutive presidential term.
Tsai cannot run for reelection because Taiwan’s presidents are limited to two consecutive four-year terms.
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