President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of November 17 with a delegation led by Norman Quijano, Fourth Vice President of El Salvador's Legislative Assembly, and Mrs. Quijano. During the meeting, the president commented on the interactions and exchanges between Taiwan and El Salvador, and called for even deeper relations in a wide range of fields and a lasting alliance.
In remarks, President Ma commented on Mr. Quijano's extensive political experience. Since 1994, he has served three consecutive terms as a legislator, and two terms as mayor of San Salvador. In 2014, Mr. Quijano was also the presidential candidate for the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA). In 2015, he attained the important position of fourth vice president of the Legislative Assembly. All these experiences testify to the fact that Mr. Quijano is an influential political leader. Having been elected in May of this year, Mr. Quijano is now leading a group of legislators from El Salvador's main political parties to visit Taiwan, showing friendship and respect for the ROC that we will always remember.
President Ma further noted that since assuming the presidency he has visited El Salvador twice. The first visit was in June of 2009, when he was invited to attend the inauguration ceremony of former President Mauricio Funes, and the second was in July 2014, at the invitation of then newly-elected President Salvador Sanchez Ceren. During both visits, President Ma was moved by the warmth and hospitality of the government and people of El Salvador, he said. When he visited last year, the president said, he met an El Salvadoran youth, he and his wife have sponsored through the World Vision program, and he was pleased to see that the youngster has grown both academically and physically.
Speaking of interaction between Taiwan and El Salvador, President Ma observed that El Salvador is an important ROC ally in Central America. The two nations first established diplomatic relations more than 80 years ago, and have thus enjoyed an uninterrupted friendship since 1933. During the last few years, bilateral cooperation and mutual visits have further intensified. For instance, former Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) led a delegation to El Salvador on June 1, 2014, to attend the inauguration ceremony for President Sanchez. Shortly after assuming the presidency, in October of the same year President Sanchez dispatched Foreign Minister Hugo Martinez on a visit to Taiwan, during which he signed a letter of intent on bilateral cooperation with his ROC counterpart that established a five-year bilateral cooperation plan. President Ma further noted that when he visited El Salvador last July, he and President Sanchez exchanged medals of honor, signed a joint declaration, and exchanged views on how to deepen mutual cooperation. Vice President Oscar Ortiz also visited Taiwan this September. "Exchanges between the two sides are frequent, and cooperation plans are ongoing," President Ma said.
The president further noted that cooperation and exchanges between the two nations have intensified and in recent years have been extended to the educational, cultural, and humanitarian spheres. For instance, every year the ROC offers the Taiwan Scholarships to 25 students from El Salvador to undertake advanced studies here, thus helping El Salvador train individuals needed for national development. One of this year's recipients, Andres Escobar, formed a team with schoolmates and other Taiwan Scholarship recipients in National Chengchi University to take part in the Hult Prize competition for social entrepreneurs, an organization partnered by the Clinton Foundation. They defeated 21,000 other teams from around the world to win the US$1 million top prize, a remarkable achievement. Responding to a severe drought that has led to a fall in crop production over the last two years in many Central American countries, including El Salvador, Taiwan has also provided humanitarian aid in the form of 600 tons of rice to help ameliorate food shortages.
President Ma further noted that the ROC is always interested in expanding its participation in the international community, and is grateful to the government of El Salvador for helping to promote Taiwan's cause over the years. The Salvadoran government has strongly supported Taiwan's efforts to join international organizations such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Worth Health Assembly (WHA). This year El Salvador is also serving as the rotating president of the Community of Democracies (CD), and in that capacity has invited ROC Foreign Minister David Y. L. Lin (林永樂) to take part in the CD's eighth Ministerial Conference, and President Ma thanked them for that show of friendship.