The new Taiwan ambassador to St. Vincent and the Grenadines has met with members of the two Taiwan alumni associations in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“I see this reunion as a very important event,” Calvin Chen-Huan Ho told the alumni at Grenadines House on Friday.
Ho, who began his tour of duty in April, said that on arriving in SVG, he asked his staff to provide him with background information about the alumni.
The diplomat said he finds it impressive that they are from different government agencies, different organisations, and the media.
“But one thing that I think, we have among all of us in common, we all have our study experience in Taiwan.
“So I hope that this experience was a very wonderful time for you while you were studying in Taiwan and I have two thoughts: one thought is that … we are diplomatic allies for a couple of decades but not only that, we are friends, true friends, especially with all of you, so we are working partners.”
He said that over the duration of the diplomatic relations, Taiwan and SVG have established a number of different projects, including in agriculture, information communication technology, human resources, and civil development.
“But I think one part of it is very important: that is, human resources development, because according to our past experience, if you want to develop your country, you need to put people to do good work.”
The ambassador said his second hope is that the knowledge the alumni gained in Taiwan can be a positive part of their work now.
Ho said that he hopes that during his stay he can create more opportunities for other Vincentians to go to Taiwan to study and return to help to develop SVG.
He said that there are three bilateral projects that his embassy is pushing currently naming banana revitalisation and diabetes prevention.
The ambassador did not disclose the third project, which iWitness News understands is still being finalised.
Friday’s event also heard remarks from President of the SVG Taiwan MOFA Alumni Association, Jamali Jack and President of the SVG Taiwan ICDF Alumni Association, Tasheka Haynes
Zevon Seymour, who completed a degree in tropical agriculture at National Pingtung Technical University in June 2017 made a presentation about his experience in Taiwan.
Larry Liao, chief of the Taiwan Technical Mission in SVG commented on the work of his team, while Marco Fan, project manager of Taiwan Technical Mission, outlined a project on diabetes management that the mission is executing in SVG.