President Ma Ying-jeou met with Tuvalu Prime Minister Willy Telavi and Mrs. Telavi at mid-day on March 15. The president expressed a cordial welcome and his deepest appreciation to Prime Minister Telavi on making another trip to Taiwan.
In remarks, the president recalled that Prime Minister Telavi led a delegation from Tuvalu to attend his inauguration to a second term in office on May 20 last year. This visit to Taiwan by the prime minister, he said, is to preside over a ceremony to mark the opening of the Embassy of Tuvalu in the ROC. Tuvalu and the ROC have maintained diplomatic relations for over 30 years, he noted, and Minute Alapati Taupo recently arrived in Taiwan to serve as Tuvalu's first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the ROC and to prepare for the opening of Tuvalu's embassy here. President Ma commented that the embassy here will become Tuvalu's fifth overseas diplomatic office, and the move to open the embassy here highlights the close friendship and the timeless bond between the two nations.
President Ma stated that the ROC and Tuvalu maintain a very solid diplomatic relationship, which was formally established on September 19, 1979and now spans 34 years. Tuvalu has consistently shown itself to be a resolute and loyal friend to the ROC, and since the establishment of diplomatic ties the two sides have maintained close cooperative ties in the fields of agriculture and fishing, health care and medicine, environmental protection, clean energy, vocational training, food safety, and culture, the president remarked.
The president pointed out that Tuvalu has over the years spoken on behalf of the ROC at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, the World Health Assembly, and the annual Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In particular, at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June of last year, Prime Minister Telavi expressed his support for the ROC's admission to the UNFCCC and the International Civil Aviation Organization. Furthermore, President Ma said, Tuvalu Foreign Minister Apisai Ielemia in September of last year at the UN General Assembly advocated Taiwan's participation in international organizations and urged nations throughout the world to support the ROC's East China Sea Peace Initiative. The president expressed his deepest appreciation to Prime Minister Telavi in this regard.
President Ma mentioned that the ROC and Tuvalu are both maritime nations and therefore share many similarities. Four years ago when Typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan and caused devastating flooding and landslides in parts of southern and eastern Taiwan, Tuvalu donated US$210,000, which was equivalent to 1% of its GDP, to the relief effort here. The president said that the people of the ROC were deeply touched by this gesture, adding that he is confident the friendly relations between the two countries are sure to be lasting.
Prime Minister and Mrs. Telavi were accompanied to the Presidential Office by Tuvalu Ambassador to the ROC Minute Alapati Taupo and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ting Joseph Shih (石定) 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).