President Lee Teng-hui this morning received credentials presented by H. E. Luis Alberto Noriega Morales, the new Guatemalan ambassador to the Republic of China.
Accompanied by Director Francisco Hwang of the ROC Foreign Ministry's Protocol Department, Ambassador Noriega came to the Office of the President where the ceremony was held. Dr. Huang Kun-hui, secretary-general to the President, and ROC Foreign Minister John Chang were also present.
After the ceremony, President Lee extended a warm welcome to Ambassador Noriega and asked him to convey best wishes to President Alvaro Enrique Arzu Irigoyen and the people of Guatemala.
President Lee said that he was gratified with the signing of an eternal peace accord between the Guatemalan government and rebels. He also expressed appreciation to Guatemala for her strong support of the ROC's bid to rejoin the United Nations.
The President pointed out that the ROC attaches great importance to the upcoming Central American Summit scheduled to convene in El Salvador in September. "Meanwhile, the ROC government is actively strengthening cooperative relationships with seven countries in central America by encouraging Taiwan businessmen to invest there," President Lee added.
At the end, the President hoped Ambassador Noriega would take time to visit Taiwan's rural areas and encourage more Taiwan enterprises to invest in Guatemala.
For his part, Ambassador Noriega thanked the ROC for rendering assistance to his country over the past years. He noted that the signing of the eternal peace accord symbolizes a new stage of Guatemala's reconstruction and that the ROC's high-technology industries could take this opportunity to invest in Guatemala and ship their products to the United States, thus making the most of the geographical proximity between Guatemala and the US.
"I am proud to accept this new assignment," the Ambassador said, adding that he will do his utmost to promote cooperation and exchanges between the two countries during his tenure of office.