Your Excellency Teima Onorio, Vice President and Minister for Environment of Kiribati; Honorable Witten Philippo, Minister in Assistance to the President of the Marshall Islands; Honorable Jonathan Koshiba, Chairman of the Environmental Quality Protection Board of Palau; Honorable Mark Kemakeza, Minister of Forestry, Environment, and Conservation of the Solomon Islands; Mr. Bryan Star, Senior Official from Nauru; Ambassador Beraki Jino; Minister Winston Dang of the Environmental Protection Administration; Minister Catherine Chang of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Esteem Colleagues:
Good Morning to you all!
On behalf of the government and the 23 million people of Taiwan, I would like to first extend a most heartfelt welcome to the environment ministers and senior environmental officials from five of our diplomatic allies--Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, and the Solomon Islands.
I would also like to express my utmost respect and appreciation to all environment ministers and distinguished guests for traveling from so far to Taiwan to attend the 2007 Environment Ministers Meeting between Taiwan and Pacific Allies. Your participation has made this conference a fruitful and successful one, and has further strengthened the foundation for cooperation and partnership between Taiwan and your respective countries.
During the First Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit held in Palau on September 4 last year, I had the honor to discuss important issues with heads of state from our Pacific allies such as regional development, government capacity building, and cooperative projects in health and medical care. The leaders at the summit signed the Palau Declaration, recognizing that democratic values form the foundation for consolidating Taiwan's friendship with its Pacific allies. They also pledged to bolster cooperation in the three major areas of capacity building, economic development, and society and culture. In line with this, various measures would be launched to "strengthen oceanic alliances on democracy and realize comprehensive partnerships."
In the Palau Declaration, Taiwan and its Pacific allies pledge to hold environment ministerial meetings to discuss solutions to environmental challenges facing the region. The Declaration encouraged our governments to make concrete and substantial moves to protect our coastal areas and ocean, and manage them in a sustainable way. This includes long-term financial support for environmental projects that will ensure the beauty of nature can be preserved for generations to come.
With these objectives in mind, our Environmental Protection Administration made a special effort to organize this meeting. I have no doubt that, during yesterday's intense and fruitful activities, in which you participated in multilateral roundtable talks and other discussions, you all debated extensively on how to cooperate on environmental projects, and exchanged your experiences of administering such projects with officials from Taiwan and other countries. You have also identified areas of cooperation to realize the vision of sustainable development and further enhance our exchanges on environmental protection.
Our country continues to strive towards its goal of becoming a "Sustainable Taiwan," which places equal emphasis on economic development and environmental protection. We aim to develop Taiwan into a "Green Silicon Island," built on the foundations of humanitarianism, environmental protection, green policies, and sustainability. The name "Silicon Island" simply refers to the industrial means and strategies we employ to develop our economy, whereas the word "Green" encompasses our objectives and ideals for development. The "Green Silicon Island" of Taiwan emphasizes the importance of environmental protection, and places significance on green revolutions that can guarantee our sustainable development. For it is only by protecting the environment and reducing mankind's negative impacts on the natural world, that we can enjoy the fruits of economic development as well as a high quality of life.
Taiwan never forgets its responsibilities as a global citizen. Its government and private sector take every opportunity to participate in international environmental campaigns. Taiwan and its Pacific allies are island nations, and compared with continental nations, we are more susceptible to the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels. We therefore feel these impacts more keenly.
So it is all the more important that Taiwan actively takes part in cooperative projects with its Pacific allies to alleviate these impacts, and so fulfill its obligations as a member of the international community and a global citizen.
Although Taiwan is not a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, on September 20, last year, the Executive Yuan passed the draft of a bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Taiwan. This is a concrete manifestation of Taiwan's determination and willingness to fulfill its responsibility as a member of the global community.
To promote sustainable development, Taiwan has adhered to the spirit of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as well as to the Rio Declaration. In 2000, it mapped out the "Taiwan Agenda 21" to provide guidelines for policymaking. Meanwhile, we have established the National Sustainable Development Committee to strengthen education on sustainable development and conduct international cooperation in this area. It has also set up the Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol Response Task Force to supervise and beef up measures launched to meet the targets of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol.
In facing the many problems caused by the worsening environmental situation worldwide, I believe that we need to create a global environment-governing body that is capable of integrating the resources of all nations to tackle problems thoroughly and comprehensively. It is therefore crucial that a World Environment Organization, or "WEO," be established as soon as possible.
Taiwan is already a member of the World Trade Organization and continues to strive to gain World Health Organization membership. We wish to work together with all countries that are concerned about the environment to facilitate the creation of the WEO, because we believe in the irrefutable and universal principles of free trade, the right to live healthily, sustainable development, democracy, and human rights.
Taiwan has dispatched agricultural missions and mobile medical teams to its diplomatic allies, and implemented a string of cooperative projects with these countries in areas such as agriculture, aquaculture, tourism, law-enforcement training, and digital and IT education. I believe that the Environment Ministers' Meeting between Taiwan and Pacific Allies will establish a long-standing and stable platform for environmental exchanges between our countries. Through this platform, Taiwan has much to share with its diplomatic allies regarding its administrative experiences in protecting the environment and responding to climate change.
In closing, on behalf of our government and people, I would like to once again say what a pleasure it has been to welcome all visiting ministers, distinguished guests, and your delegations to Taiwan. I wish all ministers and distinguished guests health, happiness, and all the best in the coming months. Thank you.