President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of August 17 with Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs Samuel Santos López and an accompanying delegation. The president extended a warm welcome to the guests on their visit to Taiwan and expressed his hope that this trip would help to further strengthen friendship between the two countries.
The president remarked that significant achievements have been seen in cooperation in international affairs between the two nations, as well as the development of bilateral trade. The president specifically pointed to assistance provided by Nicaragua in the ROC's efforts to participate in the activities of the International Civil Aviation Organization and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Foreign Minister Santos signed a free trade agreement between the two countries on a visit here in 2007, and this pact has resulted in a considerable increase in trade between the two countries, the president said. For instance, Nicaragua's exports to Taiwan in 2007 stood at US$15.34 million, but had expanded by 124% by last year to US$34.33 million. The ROC not only is Nicaragua's 10th largest trading partner, but recently ran a trade deficit with its Central American ally for the first time. President Ma remarked that Taiwan companies have invested US$134.5 million in Nicaragua, helping to create about 7,000 jobs in that nation. All of this points to the extremely successful development of economic and trade relations between the two, he said.
President Ma also shared his wonderful memories of Nicaragua during a visit there two years ago. He remarked that while there, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Saavedra personally drove him to the countryside to see the accomplishments of the agricultural technical assistance mission from the ROC. During the journey of over an hour, the two discussed a wide range of topics, including having Taiwan expand its scholarships to students from underprivileged Nicaraguan families, and the question of whether offering English-language courses at Taiwan universities would be sufficient to attract Nicaraguan high school graduates to come to Taiwan to study. President Ortega responded favorably to these initiatives, President Ma said, adding that the ROC's Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs are presently working to bring the idea to fruition. The president furthermore stated that he would be extremely pleased to see more Nicaraguan students come to Taiwan to study.
The president also noted that both Nicaragua and the ROC are both democratic nations, share common core values, and are peace- and freedom-loving countries. He expressed his hope that, based on these common traits, the alliance between the two countries would become even stronger and cooperation would be extended to more areas, thereby enhancing the wellbeing of the people of the two countries.
Foreign Minister Santos and the rest of the delegation were accompanied to the Presidential Office by Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Chin-tien Yang (楊進添) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Advisor Tung Kuo-yu (董國猷).