President Lee Teng-hui this morning met with Virgin Islands Governor Roy L. Schneider and his wife and extended a warm welcome to them.
President Lee told the governor that although the Republic of China has developed into an industrialized country, she still attaches great importance to agricultural development. The ROC is taking advantage of her high technology expertise to develop high-value agricultural products, he added.
President Lee also explained to his guests the ROC's plan for establishing Taiwan as an Asia-Pacific operations center, in a bid to enhance this country's competitiveness through developing six specialized operations centers-- manufacturing center, sea transportation center, air transportation center, financial center, telecommunications center and mass media center.
Governor Schneider said that Virgin Islands wishes to establish even closer relations with the ROC and he expressed the hope that Taiwan businessmen will invest in Virgin Islands hotels, non-polluting factories and shrimp cultivation ventures. He also welcomed visits from the ROC people to the Caribbean islands.
The guests were accompanied by ROC Vice Foreign Minister Tzen Wen-hua and AIT Taipei Office Director Darryl Johnson to the Office of the President for the meeting. Also present were Dr. Ding Mou-shih, secretary-general of the ROC National Security Council, and Mr. Stephen S.F. Chen, deputy secretary-general to the President.