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President Tsai Ing-wen, along with Vice President Chen Chien-jen and Mrs. Chen, invited Saint Lucia Prime Minister Allen Chastanet and his delegation to a state banquet at the Presidential Office at noon on October 9 to show appreciation to Saint Lucia for supporting Taiwan, and to the prime minister for the importance he places on our diplomatic relationship. She also expressed hope that Taiwan and Saint Lucia will continue to upgrade bilateral relations so that together, we can create even more cooperative achievements.
In her remarks, President Tsai first extended a sincere welcome to the prime minister and his delegation. She pointed out that Saint Lucia is a staunch diplomatic ally of Taiwan in the Caribbean, and that the prime minister is a good friend to Taiwan who has spoken up on our behalf in many international venues, and actively sought to deepen bilateral cooperation.
The president stated that over the past two years or so, thanks to strong support from Prime Minister Chastanet, Taiwan and Saint Lucia have closely cooperated and achieved much success in many areas including infrastructure, agriculture, information and communications technology, education and culture, and healthcare. We expect, she said, to extend cooperation to other areas in the future like experience-sharing in tourism development.
President Tsai went on to say that Saint Lucia has extensive tourism resources. The prime minister also has experience as a high-level executive in both the airline and hotel industries and has served as Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, so under his leadership, Saint Lucia's tourism industry has flourished, she said.
The president stated that when Prime Minister Chastanet recently visited the Taiwan Technical Mission in Saint Lucia, he said that although Taiwan and Saint Lucia are half a world apart, our cooperation can help us become springboards for global economic and trade development for each other, and jointly create a new relationship of mutual benefit. President Tsai fully agreed, and said that to continuously upgrade cooperative relations, Taiwan and Saint Lucia need to work together to find a direction and map out a vision for the future.
President Tsai thanked the prime minister for the importance he places on our diplomatic relationship, and said she looks forward to creating even more cooperative achievements in the future. She closed her remarks by asking Prime Minister Chastanet to convey Taiwan's sincere regards to Governor-General Sir Emmanuel Neville Cenac.
The prime minister then delivered remarks, saying that Taiwan and Saint Lucia are extremely close friends, and that although the two countries are far apart geographically, we share the same values, and face the challenges in the international arena.
He then said that Saint Lucia and Taiwan are all small island nations, and often marginalized on the world stage. The most obvious example is addressing climate change, an issue where neither of our countries can completely control our own future.
Prime Minister Chastanet stated that Saint Lucia clearly understands Taiwan's predicament when dealing with large countries and international organizations. By excluding Taiwan from international organizations like the World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization, the whole world suffers. He added that every time he comes to Taiwan, he is deeply impressed by how democratic and humane Taiwan's policies are, and Saint Lucia will therefore continue to support Taiwan and strengthen friendly bilateral relations.
Banquet attendees included National Security Council Secretary-General David T. Lee (李大維); Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮); ROC Ambassador to Saint Lucia Shen Cheng-Tsung (沈正宗); Saint Lucia Ambassador to the ROC Edwin Laurent and Mrs. Laurent; and Nicaraguan Ambassador to the ROC William Manuel Tapia Aleman (head of the foreign diplomatic corps in Taiwan).
