President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of March 31 with a delegation led by Cristina Lizardo Mezquita, Senate President of the Dominican Republic. In addition to extending a cordial welcome to the group on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, President Ma also expressed hope that the visitors will continue to strengthen the bilateral alliance.
In remarks, President Ma stated that Senate President Lizardo has been a senator since 2006, and also previously served as the legislative body's vice-president. She was overwhelmingly elected as Senate president in August of last year, becoming the first female to serve in that position in the Dominican Republic. Senate President Lizardo has a background in education, and a deep understanding that education is the foundation of a nation, he said. In 2007, she established the Open Learning Path Foundation (Fundacion Aprender Abre Camino) in an effort to eradicate illiteracy and promote universal education, thus helping many of her compatriots learn how to read. Her efforts in this regard spurred Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina to further promote a nationwide campaign against illiteracy. President Ma said that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recognized the achievements of the Dominican Republic's policies promoting literacy, and that Senate President Lizardo's efforts have played a vital role.
Discussing relations between the two countries, President Ma noted that the Dominican Republic is an important ROC ally in the Caribbean. Having established diplomatic relations in 1944, the two nations have an alliance that now spans over 70 years. In addition, the two countries not only share many of the same core values, but also promote a wide range of cooperative projects in the areas of vocational training, integrated emergency and security systems, and health care for children with special needs. Among those projects, the president mentioned the two sides cooperated in the construction of a vocational training center that was completed in 2013, and a practice workshop that will open this year.
President Ma commented that President Medina has strived to promote reform and infrastructure construction since taking office in August 2012. The Dominican Republic posted economic growth of 7.3% last year, and the nation has attracted a considerable amount of international investment in recent years due to its political stability, abundant labor pool, and the signing of free trade agreements with the United States, the European Union, and Central American & Caribbean nations. Statistics indicate that to date, 73 companies from Taiwan have invested in the Dominican Republic, including the Hong Fu Group and General Footwear Industrial Co., both major shoe manufacturers. These two firms last year decided to set up production facilities in the Dominican Republic that are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs in the Caribbean nation, thereby helping to generate prosperity in that economy, he said.
President Ma then discussed the ROC's external trade policies and related achievements. He explained that over the past six years, the government has signed economic cooperation agreements with its major trading partners, such as the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with mainland China, the Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Investment Arrangement, the ANZTEC economic cooperation agreement with New Zealand, and the ASTEP economic partnership agreement with Singapore. In addition, the ROC and the United States have resumed negotiations under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. At the same time, the ROC is eagerly seeking to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in the hope of continuing to promote trade liberalization, he said.
As for the ROC's participation in international organizations, the president stated that Taiwan was invited to attend the general assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in September 2013 as a special guest, which marked the first time it was able to attend this event in over 40 years since the ROC lost its representation in the UN in 1971. The president expressed his deepest gratitude to Senate President Lizardo for repeatedly promoting the passage of resolutions supporting Taiwan's participation in international organizations and activities. He also expressed hope that the delegation will continue to support the ROC in its efforts to participate in the ICAO and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which would enable the ROC to become an even greater asset to the international community.
The delegation also included Senators Jose Rafael Vargas, Ing. Euclides Sanchez, and Lic. Jose Maria Sosa, and members of the Chamber of Deputies Leivin Esenobel Guerrero, Yuderka Yvelisse de la Rosa Guerrero, and Adalgisa Fatima Pujols.