Vice President Annette Lu arrived at the Koror International Airport this afternoon around 1:50pm local time (Taipei time: 12:50pm) and started her visit to the Republic of Palau. When the flight stopped at the airport, Clark Chen Kuo-huang, the Taiwanese Ambassador to the Republic of Palau, and Palauan Foreign Minister Tommy L. Shmull boarded the plane to welcome the vice president. They also accompanied her in meeting Taiwanese nationals and local officials who came to the airport to greet her. The vice president shook hands with each of them and expressed her gratitude to her hosts.
Soon after, the vice president and her entourage arrived at the Palauan presidential palace to pay a visit to President Tommy Remengesau Jr. The vice president first thanked Remengesau for inviting President Chen Shui-bian again and expressed her delight to be visiting the Republic of Palau on behalf of the president. She said she was happy to have the chance to meeting old and new Palauan friends. President Remengesau also expresses his warm welcome and said he believes the interaction between Taiwan and the Republic of Palau could strengthen even further because of the long-term friendship and good relationship that these two countries maintain.
The vice president also gave a picture of Koror, the capital city of Palau, and another of the international airport taken by Formosat-2 to President Remengesau as a symbol of the good relationship between the two countries.
In return, President Remengesau gave Vice President Lu a bracelet made of Hawksbill turtle which the vice president immediately put on and thanked her host for the warm hospitality.
After the visit to the Palauan presidential office, the vice president then stopped by the Palauan senate and met with Senate President Johnny Reklai and Speaker of the House of Representatives Augustine Mesebeluu. Though the parliament is now in recess, still a number of parliamentarians showed up to welcome the vice president from Taiwan.
The vice president said that she felt like being a close neighbor because it was only a short time ago that President Chen was here and delivered a speech at the same site which was televised and people in Taiwan could see what was taking place there.
The vice president pointed out that tomorrow will be an important and joyful day for the Republic of Palau because the Royal Hotel from Taiwan has built a beautiful hotel in Palau, and she is happy to visit this country again on behalf of the president and to meet so many friends.
The vice president told the audience that she was a member of the parliament herself before she became vice president, and she also knows quite many of the Palauan parliamentarians in the audience who have made great contributions to the democratization of their country, an act that she admired greatly.
The vice president also mentioned that she had given President Remengesau two pictures of the Republic of Palau taken by Formosat-2. The vice president also expressed her delight in the beautiful scenery on Palau's sea. She said she would like to learn more about the sea after her conversation with her parliamentarian friends, and at the same time to know more about the development of tourism on the sea which may be useful for Taiwan's tourism development.