President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of September 11 at the Presidential Office met with Ms. Alice Cawte, the new Representative of the Australian Commerce & Industry Office. The president, on behalf of the ROC government and people of Taiwan, extended a cordial welcome to Representative Cawte on taking up her new position here.
The president said that Ms. Cawte at one time studied Chinese here and that she has a considerable understanding of Taiwan. He said that Ms. Cawte’s appointment as Representative will be beneficial to the interests of both Taiwan and Australia, which he feels can be further strengthened based on the existing bilateral cooperative relationship.
In referring to economic cooperation between the two, President Ma pointed out that bilateral trade last year reached A$11.4 billion, which demonstrates the close trade relationship between Taiwan and Australia. In addition, CPC Corporation of Taiwan and Australia’s Woodside Energy Ltd. last year signed a A$45 billion liquefied natural gas supply agreement. This deal not only will provide the Taiwan domestic market with a long-term stable supply of natural gas, but also marks a new page in cooperation in the area of natural gas between the two sides, he said. President Ma said the importance of the agreement cannot be understated.
President Ma also said that more and more Taiwan students are heading to Australia to study. At present, a total of over 100,000 Taiwan students have studied in Australia, which indicates that Taiwan students like the learning environment that Australia has to offer. The president said he hopes to see further development of academic exchanges between the two nations, which would serve to establish a sound foundation to further foster Taiwan-Australia relations.
Representative Cawte said that economic relations and academic exchanges between the two countries are quite close. She said she desires to devote herself to bolstering bilateral cooperative relations during her tenure here, hoping to pursue the greatest mutual benefits for the two nations.
Representative Cawte was accompanied to the Presidential Office in the morning to meet with President Ma by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrew Li-Yan Hsia. Also sitting in on the meeting was National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Ho Szu-yin.