President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of June 23 with a delegation led by Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida of the Burkina Faso transitional government. President Ma welcomed the visitors on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, and called for continued deepening of bilateral friendship.
In remarks, President Ma stated that Prime Minister Zida is a strong friend of the ROC who has previously visited Taiwan four times in his former capacity as an official in that nation's Presidential Security Regiment, and has taken part in a training program carried out by the ROC's Ministry of National Defense for high-ranking officials from diplomatic allies and other friendly nations.
President Ma pointed out that in the 21 years since Burkina Faso and the ROC resumed diplomatic relations, the two sides have actively pursued a wide range of exchange programs, and cooperative ties have steadily grown and progressed. Moreover, Burkina Faso has continued to support Taiwan's participation in international organizations and activities, attesting to the stable bilateral friendship.
Commenting on the successes achieved through bilateral cooperation, President Ma mentioned that the ROC has engaged in 20 cooperation projects in Burkina Faso in education, agriculture, public health, medicine, and renewable energy. In the field of education, for example, the ROC has been offering Chinese language courses since 2005, and also provides scholarships to help youth from Burkina Faso study in Taiwan. Since 2008, a total of 68 persons have studied in Taiwan.
In the field of public health and medicine, the president noted that the ROC Medical Mission in Burkina Faso provides medical services and runs education and training programs for medical personnel. For example, the medical mission has helped public health organizations train midwives, held medical administration training courses, and invited outstanding students to Taiwan for training as seed instructors. In addition, a national hospital built by the two nations began operating in September 2011, and the number of patients treated there continues to rise. It is thus quite clear that bilateral cooperation projects have yielded significant success.
President Ma also mentioned Dr. Lien Chia-en (連加恩), who had worked in Burkina Faso. There he devoted himself to improving the quality of medical services, launched a "clothes-for-trash" campaign, helped build an elementary school, and raised funds to dig wells. For his efforts, Dr. Lien was awarded Taiwan's Friendship Medal of Diplomacy (the youngest recipient ever) and Burkina Faso's Knight of the National Order (Chevalier de l'Ordre National).
President Ma also spoke with his visitors about the success of the Light from Taiwan project, under which Taiwan has pledged to donate 145,000 solar-powered lamps to Burkina Faso for use at 916 rural elementary schools. As of the end of May this year, Taiwan had already donated 126,000 such lamps (87% of the planned total) since the project was launched in 2011. When the president visited Burkina Faso three years ago, he went to homes and schools to see the state of the project's implementation. He was delighted to learn that students' grades on their monthly exams had improved since the lamps started arriving, and school attendance rates were up. He said that the ROC government will complete donation of all the lamps that it had pledged.
Noting that Burkina Faso is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections this coming October, President Ma wished the nation successful elections and expressed hope that, under the leadership of the transitional government and Prime Minister Zida, Burkina Faso would enter a new phase of democratic government.
Also traveling with the delegation was Amina Billa Bambara, Burkina Faso's Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance for the Budget.