President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of February 18 with a delegation led by Paraguayan Chamber of Deputies President Juan Bartolome Ramirez Brizuela. The president extended a cordial welcome to the group on their visit to Taiwan and expressed hope for continued strengthening of cooperation, which he said would further solidify the bilateral alliance.
In remarks, President Ma stated that Chamber President Ramirez previously served as the governor of Paraguay's Amambay Department, and twice as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from that department. President Ramirez, he said, is an outstanding statesman and very sensitive to what people need.
President Ma commented that the development of democracy in Paraguay has reached a mature phase. He cited one example, noting that members of the visiting delegation come from both the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Radical Autentico, PLRA) and the National Republican Association-Colorado Party (Asociacion Nacional Republicana Partido Colorado, ANR). Meanwhile, he said, the presidential election and subsequent inauguration ceremonies that took place in Paraguay last year were outstanding models of democracy in practice.
The president mentioned that he led a delegation to Paraguay on August 15 last year to attend the inauguration ceremonies for President Horacio Cartes. He noted that when he arrived at the airport there in late evening, it was only six degrees Celsius outside, and former President Luis Federico Franco Gomez personally came to the airport to welcome him. President Ma said he was deeply touched by former President Franco's gesture.
President Ma also expressed his gratitude to the Chamber of Deputies for passing resolutions in April 2012 supporting Taiwan's participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). He stressed that in September of last year Taiwan was invited to attend the ICAO general assembly in Montreal, Canada as a special guest. This shows the importance of the resolution in helping the ROC achieve its goal in taking part in this organization, the president said.
President Ma also mentioned that two years ago he specially proposed the East China Sea Peace Initiative in order to resolve fishing and marine law enforcement disputes with Japan and the Philippines, respectively. In March of last year, he said, the Chamber of Deputies unanimously expressed support for this initiative, which provided enormous encouragement to the ROC. President Ma stressed that the ROC is a peace-loving nation and is actively providing humanitarian assistance. For example, he said, in May of last year, a Philippine government vessel fired at a Taiwanese fishing boat and killed a fisherman in a dispute at sea. In November of the same year, however, when the Philippines was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, the ROC responded more quickly than any other country in the world in delivering relief goods to the disaster area, he said. In all, the ROC sent 680 tones of goods, which were delivered to the Philippines on 18 flights by ROC air force cargo planes, enabling the victims to receive appropriate care at the earliest possible moment, the president remarked.
Looking ahead, President Ma emphasized that while Paraguay is the most distant ally from Taiwan geographically, the people of the two nations still maintain a close kinship. As Paraguay is planning to build public housing, he said, the ROC is willing to share its experience in this regard, with the hope of further solidifying bilateral ties.
In addition to Chamber President Ramirez, members of the delegation included Pablino Acasio Rodriguez Arias, Miguel Angel Del Puerto Silva, Del Pilar Eva Medina de Paredes, Maria Nimia Carisimo Sosa, and Esmerita Sanchez de Da Silva.