President Tsai visits Belize Governor-General Sir Colville Young and Prime Minister Dean Barrow
On the morning of August 17 Belize time (evening of Aug. 17 Taipei time), President Tsai Ing-wen held talks with Belize Governor-General Sir Colville Young and Prime Minister Dean Barrow.
Following those talks, National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) related highlights from the meetings, saying that during her visit with Governor-General Young, President Tsai thanked the governor-general for inviting her to his beautiful country. The governor-general thanked President Tsai for visiting Belize, and underscored the importance of environmental sustainability and protection. Governor-General Young also emphasized that during the process of national development, a country should not overlook environmental sustainability, and neglecting sustainability always invites a backlash from the natural environment. So he praised Taiwan for looking to maintain harmonious coexistence with the natural environment while developing its economy. The governor-general then expressed hope that Taiwan will be a leader in environmental sustainability, and provide Belize with any needed assistance.
President Tsai responded that Taiwan is happy to work with Belize to address issues wrought by climate change, and stand together to meet the challenges through exchanges and cooperation.
After her meeting with Governor-General Young, President Tsai visited Prime Minister Barrow at the Office of the Prime Minister. During the meeting, the prime minister said that Belize values its 30-year friendship with Taiwan, and will continue to make every effort, without reservation, to help Taiwan expand its international participation. In the future, he said, Taiwan-Belize cooperation could focus on two areas. The first is education, with Taiwan continuing to provide scholarships and cooperative projects to give Belizean young people opportunities for education and vocational training in Taiwan. He also said he hopes that after Belizean students acquire new skills and agricultural techniques and return home, they will help national economic development. The second area, the prime minister said, is infrastructure, and Belize has an urgent need for public infrastructure and facilities of many kinds, and he hopes that Taiwan will be able to provide assistance.
President Tsai responded by saying that Taiwan is already starting to launch new mechanisms for cooperating with its allies. That entails three national-level investment firms designed to assist our allies in terms of industrial, agricultural, and infrastructure development. In the latter area, Taiwan will provide Belize with the infrastructure required for national development through a newly established overseas engineering firm, in tandem with official development assistance (ODA) aid. Based on the concept of "capacity sharing," President Tsai said that Taiwan is willing to share its expertise in this area, especially to help its allies promote infrastructure projects required for national development.