Prime Minister King leads high level delegation to Taiwan

Monday, June 9, 2008 – Prime Minister the Hon. Stephenson King leaves St. Lucia tomorrow Tuesday May 10, 2008 to embark on an official State Visit to the Republic of China (Taiwan).

The Prime Minister will be accompanied by a high level delegation which includes the Minister for Agriculture, Lands, Forestry and Fisheries, the Hon. Ezechiel Joseph, St. Lucia’s Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary for CARICOM and the OECS, Dr. June Soomer, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Senator Tessa Mangal and the Government Public Relations Officer, Jeff Fedee.

A major part of Prime Minister Stephenson’s King visit to Taiwan will be the signing of a Technical Cooperation Agreement between the two countries.

Already St. Lucia has benefited from several agricultural and community based projects such as the provision of water supply systems to areas which suffered from a lack of pipe borne water, as well as IT Centres to provide the youth and the older generation with the ability to use computers in the information age. Among the projects that have received generous assistance from the Taiwanese is fruit and vegetable farming, through the establishment of green houses that allows St. Lucian farmers to produce fruits and vegetables - which were only available on a seasonal basis - throughout the year.

Added to that, the Taiwanese have re-instituted the Union Agricultural Station which was destroyed by the previous administration to locate a football stadium. The site will be developed into fish ponds for the breeding of fish and shrimp to meet local and hotel needs.

In Taiwan, a packed programme of activities has been organized for Prime Minister King and his delegation.

The Prime Minister is expected to make an official call on the newly elected President of Taiwan, His Excellency Ying-joen Ma, on Thursday June 12, 2008 as well as Vice-President Mr. Vincent Siew. The newly elected president has already extended to Prime Minister King and the people of St. Lucia his warmest greetings and appreciation for St. Lucia’s efforts in supporting Taiwan’s bid to join the United Nations and participation in other international organizations.

The Prime Minister will also call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan.

As part of this historic visit to Taiwan by a St. Lucian Prime Minister, Prime Minister King will be visiting several historical and outstanding landmarks in Taiwan such as Taipei 101, which holds the distinction of being the tallest building in the world at present, as well as one of the wonders of modern advanced engineering. The Prime Minister will also travel on the Taiwan High Speed Rail, also considered to be one of the fastest and most modern railway systems in the world.

Taiwan is about 60 times the size of St. Lucia with a population of 23 million people. The time difference is that Taiwan is 12 hours ahead of St. Lucia and the country shares a similar climate to St. Lucia.

The visit ends on Thursday June 19, 2008.

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