President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of October 7 with Lorena Enriqueta Herrera Estevez de Enamorado, vice president of the Republic of Honduras, and her husband Mr. Miguel Enamorado. In addition to thanking Honduras for speaking in support of the ROC's participation in international organizations, the president also expressed hope for a close and lasting alliance between the two sides.
In remarks, President Ma stated that he first visited Honduras as Taipei City mayor, and has travelled there twice since becoming president, the first time to attend the inauguration of former President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, and the second time to attend the inauguration of current President Juan Orlando Hernandez. In all he has visited Honduras, a staunch diplomatic ally, three times, and the time spent there has left a deep impression.
President Ma also mentioned that the people of Taiwan are among the world's top consumers of coffee, and coffee grown in Honduras is highly regarded here. Food manufacturers in Taiwan have long imported large amounts of coffee beans from Honduras, and recently a Taiwanese television studio even sent a team to Honduras to film a special program on coffee. This indicates that the aromatic and high-quality coffee beans from Honduras have long been an integral part of everyday life here, remarked the president.
President Ma stated that Vice President Herrera is an extremely able politician and passionate about religious affairs. A devout Christian, Vice President Herrera is a devoted wife and mother, and she has also actively engaged in advanced studies, having earned master's degrees from the Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana (UNITEC) in Honduras and Mexico's Tecnológico de Monterrey in the field of environmental engineering, making her a model for women in the Honduran politics. Vice President Herrera and her husband have a son and a daughter, and a six-year-old grandson.
President Ma also mentioned that Vice President Herrera served consecutive terms in the National Congress of Honduras and was the chairwoman of its Environmental Committee. She long served as an advisor to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in Honduras, and did in-depth research on environmental protection and clean energies. The president expressed hope that she can utilize her expertise in these fields and provide her valuable opinions to the ROC in its efforts to participate in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
President Ma emphasized that even though the ROC has been unable to become a party to the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol because it lost its seat at the UN in 1971, he nevertheless began actively pushing to conserve energy after he took office in 2008. The ROC has made commitments to the international community to reduce its carbon emissions in 2020 to levels last seen in 2005, and to reduce emissions in 2025 to the level of 2000.
As for relations between the ROC and Honduras, the president remarked, President Hernandez has actively cracked down on corruption and organized crime since taking office this year. These efforts have helped to reduce crime in Honduras, he said, and have been widely supported by the people there. The ROC has also had considerable success in recent years in improving public safety in Taiwan. President Ma said he is confident that the two countries can engage in even greater interaction to address crime.
The president further stated that the ROC and Honduras have consistently maintained close and friendly ties, highlighted by the fact that the two have had diplomatic relations for 73 years. Bilateral ties are getting stronger all the time, he said, pointing to successful long-term cooperation focusing on quality of living, education, information, health and medical care, environmental protection, and public safety. Recently, the ROC responded to an urgent request from the Honduran government to help the Honduran Social Security Institute procure needed medicines. In addition, Honduras has encountered a serious drought recently due to the El Niño effect. Crops in the southern part of the country have delivered low yields, leading to a scarcity of staple foods. The ROC government has also provided assistance, the president said, adding that all of these examples indicate the close alliance between the two countries.
President Ma mentioned that at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), Honduras has actively taken part in the working group handling amendments to the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, and has publicly advocated elevating the ROC's status in the ICCAT. President Ma expressed his deepest gratitude to Honduras for speaking on behalf of the ROC in this and other such international venues.
The president explained that Taiwan's economy is an export-oriented one, and that in order to boost the competitiveness of Taiwan's industry, the nation in recent years has vigorously pursued the signing of economic cooperation agreements with its major trading partners. Looking ahead, he remarked, the ROC hopes to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership as soon as possible in order to be an active player in regional economic integration and to contribute to prosperity and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
President Ma also congratulated Honduras on the signing of a free trade agreement with Canada, which formally took effect on October 1 of this year. He also pointed out that a free trade agreement between the ROC and Honduras went into effect in July 2008. The president expressed hope that the ROC, via this mutually beneficial and friendly free trade agreement, can develop expanded economic, trade, and investment relationships with member nations of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), thereby further expanding the ROC's trade markets in North America.