President Chen Shui-bian on the morning of October 11 met with Republic of Nicaragua Foreign Minister Samuel Santos López and his wife at the Presidential Office. President Chen said the free trade agreement signed by the two countries has gone into effect and that he is confident this will provide an enormous boom to trade and economic relations in the future. The president said the agreement will also help to attract Taiwan businesses to invest in Nicaragua, making an important contribution to the economic development in that country. In addition, the primary reason for Foreign Minister Santos's trip to Taiwan this time is to sign a memorandum of understanding with Taiwan's Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang on strengthening the alliance and cooperative relations between the two countries. President Chen said he believes the signing of this memorandum will have an enormous impact on substantive cooperation between the two countries in the coming five years.
Foreign Minister Santos expressed his appreciation for the warm reception he has received on Taiwan. He also passed along the thanks of the Nicaraguan people for the assistance provided by the ROC (Taiwan) government after Nicaragua suffered considerable damage from a hurricane earlier this year.
During the meeting, Foreign Minister Santos communicated with Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega Saavedra by mobile phone and President Ortega congratulated President Chen in the wake of the Double Ten National Day celebration on October 10. President Chen also extended, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC (Taiwan), an invitation to President Ortega and his wife to make a state visit to Taiwan.
The delegation led by Foreign Minister Santos and his wife included Deputy Foreign Minister Valdrack Jeantschke and Inspector General of the Armed Forces Ramón Calderón Vindel.