President Ma Ying-jeou on the afternoon of May 19 met with a congratulatory delegation from Saint Lucia led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Ports Services and Transport Philip J. Pierre. The delegation was in Taiwan to participate in the inauguration ceremonies for the 13th-term president and vice president of the ROC. Also attending the meeting were Vice President-elect Wu Den-yih and Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Chin-tien Yang (楊進添).
The president, on behalf of the government, started by welcoming and people of the ROC to Deputy Prime Minister Pierre and his delegation to the inauguration festivities. He also expressed his appreciation to Saint Lucia Prime Minister Kenny D. Anthony for specially designating Deputy Prime Minister Pierre to serve as his envoy in attending the events. President Ma expressed his hope to have the opportunity to visit the Caribbean nation in the future.
During the meeting, President Ma remarked that Deputy Prime Minister Pierre is a senior member of the House of Representatives and is a distinguished politician who possesses an outstanding academic background and enormous experience. The president commented that this was Deputy Prime Minister Pierre's first visit to Taiwan, and would undoubtedly help to strengthen bilateral relations. At the same time, the president specially expressed his gratitude to Saint Lucia for its friendship and resolute support for the ROC.
President Ma pointed out that Saint Lucia and the ROC re-established diplomatic relations in 2007 and over the past five years substantive progress has been seen in cooperation between the two countries. This interaction, he said, spans the fields of agriculture, community development, science and technology, education, and culture, and this cooperation is helping to continue to strengthen the alliance between the two countries.
The president mentioned that Saint Lucia and the ROC are both island nations that lack natural resources. He said that the two countries have many similarities in terms of topography and climate, while they also share the core values of freedom and democracy. Consequently, the foundation for bilateral interaction is quite broad, he said. For instance, presently there are about 50 students from Saint Lucia who have received full scholarships to pursue their studies in Taiwan. The president said that these students have displayed academic excellence, and that the ROC would like to expand the scale of its Taiwan Scholarships program should the budget permit. This would enable an even greater number of outstanding young people from Saint Lucia to complete undergraduate or graduate studies here, he said.
Also joining the delegation were Minister for Education, Human Resource Development and Labor Robert Lewis, Minister for Health, Wellness, Human Services and Gender Relations Alvina Reynolds, Minister for Youth Development and Sports Shawn Edward, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Chief of Protocol Clenie Greer.