President Tsai meets Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Rodrigue
President Tsai Ing-wen met on the morning of April 30 with Republic of Haiti Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Rodrigue. Besides thanking Haiti for its long-term support for Taiwan's international participation, she also expressed hope for closer Taiwan-Haiti relations through industrial cooperation and linkages between markets.
In remarks, President Tsai first welcomed her visitor on behalf of the government and people of Taiwan. The president expressed great admiration for Minister Rodrigue as a senior diplomat who has worked all over the Americas and Europe, and speaks many languages.
President Tsai mentioned that although Taiwan and Haiti are separated by half the globe, they have many things in common. Both are island countries, and embrace the shared values of freedom, equality, and universal love, she said.
Commenting on cooperation between the two countries, President Tsai stated that Haiti and Taiwan have had formal diplomatic relations for over six decades. Over the years, the bilateral relationship has continually deepened, and cooperation has yielded enormous results in environmental protection, infrastructure, public health and healthcare, agriculture, and education. These mutually beneficial results have been widely praised in Haiti. The two sides are now discussing several cooperation projects, and the president believes that those discussions will soon see concrete results as those projects are implemented.
President Tsai stated that these cooperation projects will benefit the people of Haiti while giving teams from Taiwan more overseas experience, and upgrading Taiwan's ability to provide technical services. This, she said, is the essence of mutual assistance for mutual benefits. The government of Taiwan will also continue to encourage private-sector enterprises to send study delegations to Haiti. She then expressed hope for closer Taiwan-Haiti relations through industrial cooperation and linkages between markets.
The president stated that Haiti is an important friend of Taiwan, and thanked Haiti for its long-term support for Taiwan's international participation. In particular, Minister Rodrigue recently sent a written appeal to the World Health Organization supporting the legitimacy of Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly. The president stated that she and the people of Taiwan will always remember these gestures of friendship and support.
In closing, the president expressed hope that Haiti will continue to support Taiwan so that we can contribute more to the international community. She also asked Minister Rodrigue to pass along her regards to Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.