President Tsai meets St. Christopher and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Sylvester Harris
Meeting on the morning of June 8 with a delegation led by St. Christopher and Nevis (SKN) Prime Minister Timothy Sylvester Harris, President Tsai Ing-wen extended a warm welcome on behalf of the government and people of Taiwan, and expressed hope that SKN and Taiwan can further bilateral exchanges and continue to maintain a lasting alliance.
In remarks, President Tsai noted that Prime Minister Harris attended her inauguration in 2016, and has also visited Taiwan on numerous other occasions. He has very close ties to Taiwan, and is one of our best friends. In addition, SKN ranks second among 25 Caribbean nations for per capita national income, and a World Bank report entitled Doing Business 2016 ranks SKN as having the highest level of business freedom among the members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). All of this shows that SKN has established one of the best models of economic development in the Caribbean region, and highlights the outstanding governance of Prime Minister Harris and the Team Unity coalition that he leads.
Commenting on bilateral relations, President Tsai pointed out that when SKN became independent in 1983, Taiwan was the first nation to establish diplomatic relations with it. For many years, Taiwan and SKN have supported each other in the international community and pursued bilateral cooperation projects in such fields as maintenance of security, infrastructure, education & culture, and agricultural technology.
With regard to the field of public health and medical care, President Tsai noted that since this past April Taiwan and SKN have launched the Capacity Building Project for the Prevention and Control of Chronic Kidney Disease in St. Kitts and Nevis, which is being administered by Taipei Veterans General Hospital. In the future, she said, hopefully Taiwan and SKN will further exchanges in various fields, and the two countries would take advantage of SKN's economic growth to jointly create a new model of mutually beneficial cooperation, thus bringing about a win-win situation.
President Tsai extended her sincerest gratitude to the SKN government for its long-standing staunch support for Taiwan's participation at the World Health Assembly (WHA), the United Nations, and other international organizations. She specially thanked Prime Minister Harris for speaking out on Taiwan's behalf at the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 and 2016, and for supporting Taiwan's participation at this year's WHA. The president also expressed hope that Prime Minister Harris will continue to support Taiwan's international participation so that Taiwan can share with the world its experience in the fields of public health & medical care, aviation safety, and sustainable development. This would enable Taiwan to fulfill its international responsibilities and make more contributions.
The president mentioned that Prime Minister Harris has visited Taiwan three years in a row since taking office as prime minister in 2015, a clear demonstration of the resolute alliance and friendship between the two countries. SKN is working actively to promote tourism, and the delegation during this trip to Taiwan has visited tourist facilities in Taiwan's southern city of Kaohsiung and outlying county of Kinmen. Interactions such as these all make for closer bilateral relations and facilitate more cooperative exchanges.
The president closed the meeting by welcoming the group once again and offering her best wishes for a successful trip and a lasting alliance.