This is my first trip to Africa since taking office, and our delegation is not just visiting Swaziland to admire the country's beautiful scenery, but also to personally see all that's been achieved in Africa by hard-working businesspeople, technical missions, medical missions, and other personnel from Taiwan.
We just visited Tex-Ray Industrial Co., Ltd today. The company employs thousands of people in Swaziland, and makes a significant contribution to the local job market and economic growth. Swaziland Minister of Public Works and Transport Lindiwe Dlamini just told me in the car that the company employs thousands of Swazi women, making Tex-Ray an important source of job opportunities.
Ms. Liao Mei-hua (廖美華), our commissioner of the Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC), is also on hand. Ms. Liao came to Swaziland in the 1970s and has successfully built a business from the ground up. She. is a model for Taiwanese businesspeople hoping to engage in sustainable business operations in Africa. Every investment in Africa by a Taiwanese enterprise testifies to the courage, perseverance, and determination of the people of Taiwan, and creates opportunities for local development.
When I was chatting with some friends from the Taiwanese business community earlier this afternoon about investments in Africa, I told them, "We hear you." and the government will do everything we can to support you.
In addition to ministers, deputy ministers, legislators, and our businesspeople, we also have colleagues from Taiwan's medical, educational, and agricultural missions with us tonight, people who are helping our diplomatic ally on behalf of Taiwan.
These people embody the caring and compassion of Taiwanese that extends around the globe. Earlier today, I visited the medical mission and the Swaziland College of Technology, where I saw the mission members' expertise and enthusiasm for foreign aid. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you.
Today, I visited the Swaziland College of Technology, where a doctoral student from National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) is teaching. I took a quick survey of his students, asking them whether they like their teacher. They said, "Of course." And I asked whether they wanted their teacher to stay longer. They said, "Of course." Then I turned to ask the teacher whether he was going to go back to continue his PhD studies. He said, "Yes." And he wants to do that as soon as possible. Then I told his students that they can just go to Taiwan and continue to study with their teacher. We really appreciate his work.
That teacher came here to be a volunteer. I believe he's a good teacher for his students. I also believe that he's a good student at NTHU, who can get his PhD. For us, he is the pride of Taiwan, and we're grateful for him.
Tomorrow, I'll visit the technical mission, which introduces new agricultural skills and technology to Swazi farms both big and small.
This afternoon I met with Swaziland's Queen Mother Ntombi Tfwala. We talked about the next program Taiwan will be promoting, the "Greenhouse Project." Under that project, Taiwan will select four areas severely impacted by food shortages, and train 70 women in each area, including the startup of seedling nurseries to producing and selling their harvests. Taking a step-by-step approach, Taiwan aims to provide professional guidance to improve the rural economy. In the future, these 280 Swazi women will act as "seeds" to help Taiwan implement the program far and wide. Taiwan will need its agricultural mission to help promote this project.
Taiwan's current diplomatic strategy is based on the principles of steadfast diplomacy and mutual assistance for mutual benefits. The effectiveness of this strategy will depend on the hard work you are all putting in everyday.
King Mswati III asked Minister Lindiwe Dlamini to accompany me today, and we had some discussions. I told her that it is only right that she is here, because tonight there are many Taiwanese businesspeople in attendance who could invest in Swaziland. Minister Dlamini is very excited, and welcomes anyone interested in investing in Swaziland to contact her.
I want to emphasize that Taiwan will definitely stay engaged with Africa. Taiwan has the ability to contribute more to both Swaziland, and all of Africa, and should actively participate in this market as it has great potential. We look forward to working side-by-side with expatriate communities and leaders in the Taiwanese business community to create even closer and friendlier relations between Taiwan and African countries.
The government policy of valuing expatriates will not change, and I ask everyone to continue supporting the government. Most importantly, we welcome you to come back to Taiwan often to see for yourselves how Taiwan is changing.
The government has worked hard over the past two years not only on the reforms mentioned earlier by Frank Chien (簡湧杰), a representative of South Africa's Taiwanese expatriate community and OCAC commissioner, but also to transform Taiwan's economy. Taiwan's domestic economy has finally bounced back from an extended period of sluggishness. Its stock market, exports, and economic growth are all performing very well, and unemployment has dropped to a 17-year low.
As I mentioned earlier, Taiwan's government is tackling many reforms and making structural adjustments to the economy that previous governments were unable, unwilling, or afraid to attempt. There may be ups and downs during the process, but things will settle down once reform is on track, and people will gradually begin to see for themselves the fruits of these reform and restructuring efforts. Taiwan is doing well and making progress. Please show confidence in Taiwan.
In closing, I want to thank everyone once again for the warm welcome, as well as the expatriates who had made long journeys to attend tonight's banquet. I wish you all the best in your lives and business pursuits in Africa.