President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of May 16 at the Presidential office with Speaker of the Solomon Islands National Parliament Sir Allan Kemakeza and Mrs. Kemakeza. The president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, welcomed Speaker Kemakeza on his fourth visit to Taiwan.
The president noted that Speaker Kemakeza visited Taiwan in 2002, 2004, and 2005 in his capacity as prime minister, and he has a deep friendship with the ROC. Since diplomatic relations were established in 1983, the two sides have maintained close cooperation in the fields of agricultural technology, health care, and infrastructure, with cooperation projects being oriented towards the needs of the people. President Ma remarked that he saw the results of the bilateral cooperation during a visit he made to the Solomon Islands in March of last year. A new building to house the National Parliament will be completed next year, and a cooperative solar power project between the ROC and the Solomon Islands will be extended to other countries in the South Pacific. The president added that he also visited the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), which was another highlight of his trip there.
In mentioning the friendship between the two nations, the president said he has visited the Solomon Islands twice, and the friendliness of the people there has made a deep impression on him. The president added that after Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan in August 2009, a Solomon Islands village chief, Stanley Tapeva, collected donations of around NT$4,000 and made an arduous journey to deliver the money to the ROC agricultural technical team stationed there as a show of concern for flooding and landslides that occurred in southern and eastern Taiwan. Meanwhile, after an earthquake shook the Solomon Islands, President Ma and the tribal leader spoke, using an HTC mobile phone that was donated by Taiwan, and the president expressed his concern for the situation. All of these gestures demonstrate the close bond of friendship between the people of the two countries, he said.
President Ma stressed that the ROC's foreign aid work is consistently carried out in compliance with the principles of "seeking proper goals, acting lawfully, and exercising effective administration," to ensure that the ROC acts as a peacemaker, a provider of humanitarian aid, a promoter of cultural ties, a creator of new technologies and business opportunities, and a standard-bearer of Chinese culture. He said that this policy framework will continue to be used in promoting cooperation with our friends and allies. The president furthermore expressed his hopes for even deeper cooperation and ties with the Solomon Islands in the future.
Speaker Kemakeza and Mrs. Kemakeza were accompanied to the Presidential Office by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ssu-tsun Shen (沈斯淳) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Advisor Tung Kuo-yu (董國猷).