PM: Taiwan willing to offer further assistance

Taiwan is committed to the building of the International Airport at Argyle and is prepared to consider making further assistance available.{{more}}

This is one of the items spelt out in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed between the St Vincent and the Grenadines and Taiwan during Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves’ just concluded ten day trip to the Southeast Asian nation.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Dr Gonsalves outlined the various accomplishments of the trip, including the reaffirmed support for the international airport.

“…the Republic of China (Taiwan) reaffirms its commitments to assist the Argyle International airport project with the grant and soft loan promised, and if the situation requires, will give favourable consideration to providing an additional grant or soft loan to help St Vincent and the Grenadines offset the rising cost of raw material,” the MOU, that was signed by Dr Gonsalves and Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco H.L Ou, stated.

The MOU also reaffirmed Taiwan’s commitment to the National Library and Cross Country Road projects and the Taiwan Scholarships.

Regarding the scholarships, Dr Gonsalves announced that the Taiwanese government has decided to up the number of annual scholarships from five to ten.

The pot for the ongoing cooperation programs in the Civil Development Project, where Taiwan contributes US$2 million per year for general development programmes like the Youth Empowerment Programe (YES) and the building and equipping of the learn Resource Centres has also been sweetened.

When the current three year agreement ends at the end of this year, Taiwan will raise the grant to US $2.5 million for the next three year cycle.

Discussions were also held on the matter of renewable energy and the both governments are looking towards working with the Taiwanese company Modern Technology for a Sustainable World Industries (MOTECH) in the development of a viable programme of solar energy in St Vincent.

He said that this development along with advancements to be made in geothermal explorations makes the matter of renewable energy a very promising one for the country.

An agreement to work closer with the Taiwanese Agricultural Mission in an effort to increase food production was also made.

“The challenges which are ahead for our countries cannot be adequately met through this focus by some people on tangential matters, on political gossip, on hot air being spouted on this or that in this or that forum, but really on a sensible and focused understanding of where we are; analyzing our problems…and to see how we can do things immediately or what we could do for the medium term and beyond,” Dr Gonsalves said.

Dr Gonsalves, who met with president Ma Ying Jeou and Prime Minister Liu Chao Shiuan during his visit said that he invited them, along with Foreign Minister Ou, to visit this country at their earliest convenience.(KJ)