Taipei, Oct. 3 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Wednesday he hopes that more local people would join volunteer services to help boost the Republic of China's relations with countries around the world.
Chen made the remarks while reviewing 19 local volunteers who will soon depart for working in countries that maintain formal diplomatic ties with the ROC.
Also present at the occasion were 37 selected conscripts who will work with the ROC's overseas technical missions for the next two years as alternative to their mandatory military services.
Quoting tallies compiled by the United Nations, Chen said more than 25 percent of citizens of advanced democratic countries have experiences of working as volunteers.
For instance, 56 percent of Americans had once worked as volunteers. The ratios in Germany and Japan were 34 percent and 26 percent, respectively.
Against this backdrop, Chen said he is convinced that there is still ample room for Taiwan's volunteer work force to grow. "I'm hopeful that our volunteer work force will expand gradually in the years to come," he added.
In addition to helping promote domestic community elopment, Chen said, Taiwan volunteers can also work for international cooperative programs and help boost bilateral and multilateral cultural exchanges.
The ROC began to send volunteers five years ago to work for its diplomatic allies or developing countries friendly to Taiwan. And this year, it decided to send young conscripts to work at its overseas technical missions as alternative military services. The first batch of young conscripts will work at the ROC's 25 technical missions in 21 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. They will depart to assume overseas missions in early November.