President Chen Shui-bian met with Dominican Republic Vice President Rafael Alburquerque De Castro at the Presidential Office on the morning of October 8. President Chen extended a warm welcome to Vice President Alburquerque on behalf of the ROC (Taiwan) government and the 23 million people of Taiwan, adding that the vice president's participation in Taiwan's Double Ten national day festivities will make the celebration all the merrier.
President Chen said that as the Dominican Republic is seeking to serve as a temporary member on the United Nations Security Council in 2008 and 2009, it has been unable to publicly express its support for Taiwan's application to gain membership in the UN. Privately, however, the government and people of the Dominican Republic have provided significant assistance in helping Taiwan to participate in international organizations and activities. The president expressed his thanks to Vice President Alburquerque for this.
President Chen furthermore said that Taiwan and the Dominican Republic have completed the first round of negotiations on a free trade agreement. He hopes work will continue to enable the eventual signing of a free trade agreement between the two countries, providing benefits to the business communities of each country and bolstering exchanges. This is in the mutual interest of both nations, he said.
President Chen used baseball as a metaphor to describe relations between the two nations. The president noted how both Taiwan and the Dominican Republic are extremely passionate about baseball. Taiwan ace Chien-ming Wang has put in an outstanding performance as a pitcher for the New York Yankees, a team which also has many players from the Dominican Republic. The players from the different countries cooperate in the pursuit of an even better performance for the team as a whole. The president said that this is like the cooperation in the diplomatic and economic spheres between Taiwan and the Dominican Republic, which has created a platform to offer even greater benefit to the two countries.
Vice President Alburquerque said he hopes the two countries will continue to push ahead with negotiations that will ultimately lead to the signing of a free trade accord. This will enable the substantive friendly relations and cooperation between the two countries to continue to develop. Furthermore, mutual cooperation in the international arena will expand benefits for both countries, he said.