The Office of the President held a press conference on the afternoon of July 29 to announce that President Ma will lead an ROC delegation on an overseas trip from August 11 to August 22 to attend the inauguration of Paraguay's new president Horacio Cartes and to visit diplomatic allies of the ROC in the Caribbean Sea. Presidential Office Spokesperson Li Jia-Fei (李佳霏) and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Shen-Yeaw Ko (柯森耀) briefed the press on the itinerary for the president's upcoming trip.
Deputy Minister Ko explained that President Ma, in an effort to further strengthen ties between the ROC and its diplomatic partners, has made seven trips overseas since taking office in May 2008, traveling to allied nations in Latin America, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and Europe.
Deputy Minister Ko added that Paraguay, a diplomatic ally of the ROC in South America, has set August 15 as the inauguration date for its new president Horacio Cartes and vice president Juan Afara. Current president Luis Federico Franco Gomez, while in Taiwan on a state visit this May, invited President Ma to lead a delegation to the inauguration ceremonies, he said, and Paraguay's presidential transition team also contacted the ROC's embassy in Paraguay to extend an invitation to the president. In addition, the deputy minister noted, in recent years high-ranking officials from the ROC's allies in the Caribbean during visits to Taiwan have repeatedly invited President Ma to visit their countries. Therefore, he said, President Ma, after attending the inauguration in Paraguay, will visit the ROC's diplomatic allies in the Caribbean -- St. Christopher and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, and Haiti.
Deputy Minister Ko stated that this trip will be codenamed Project Congratulations and Friendship and that various government officials as well as representatives of the business and academic communities will join the president on this journey. The delegation is scheduled to depart from Taiwan on the afternoon of August 11 and return on August 22. In the course of the 12-day trip, the delegation will make transit stops in New York on their way to Latin America and in Los Angeles on the return, he said.
The deputy minister also remarked that President Ma, in addition to attending the presidential inauguration activities in Paraguay, will meet with the presidents, governors, prime ministers, and other leaders of the countries he will be visiting to exchange opinions on bilateral and multilateral topics of mutual interest. In addition, the president will inspect the progress of bilateral cooperation projects, and arrangements will also be made for him to meet with representatives of overseas compatriot communities. Deputy Minister Ko said that the visits to these nations should help to further strengthen ties between the ROC and these countries.