President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of October 9 with Republic of Guatemala Vice President Roxana Baldetti. On behalf of the government and people of the ROC, the president extended a cordial welcome and thanks to Vice President Baldetti for coming to Taiwan to participate in the ROC's Double Tenth National Day festivities.
The president stated that Vice President Baldetti is a distinguished political leader in Guatemala. Prior to her current position, she served as a congresswoman for two terms and also as deputy speaker of the Congress. Presently, she serves as secretary general of the Patriot Party, Guatemala's governing party, and has actively assisted President Otto Perez Molina in promoting governmental reform and a range of policies aimed at benefiting the people of Guatemala, he said. At the same time, the president noted, Vice President Baldetti has long been involved in the fight against human trafficking and other efforts to protect human rights as well as the safety and interests of women and children. Her work in this regard has been outstanding, he said, further noting that she is extremely popular among her nation's people.
President Ma stated that Guatemala is one of the ROC's most important and longstanding allies in Central America, with diplomatic relations between the two countries dating back over 70 years. The two are engaged in a wide range of substantive cooperation and interaction, and the bilateral alliance continues to strengthen, he said. In the future, the president stated, the ROC will continue to promote cooperation projects between the two countries, with the two sides working together to promote wellbeing for the people of both nations.
President Ma stated that he has visited Guatemala twice, and his trip to see the Mayan ruins left a deep impression on him. He expressed his hope that Vice President Baldetti and the delegation she is leading would enjoy the festivities associated with Double Tenth Day on their visit, and would also engage in broad interaction with both government and private entities, thereby helping to forge greater cooperation and an even stronger alliance between the two countries.
The delegation led by Vice President Baldetti was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Minister of Foreign Affairs David Y.L. Lin (林永樂) and Guatemala's Ambassador to the ROC Arturo Romeo Duarte Ortiz to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting were Secretary-General to the President Timothy Chin-tien Yang (楊進添) and National Security Council Secretary-General Jason C. Yuan (袁健生).