President Tsai Ing-wen said April 10 that she hopes the governments of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Nicaragua can work together to further boost local investment in the Central American diplomatic ally on the basis of reciprocity and mutual benefits.
The president made the remarks while receiving Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, Finance and Public Credit Minister Ivan Acosta and Minister of Industry, Development and Commerce Orlando Solorzano at the Office of the President in Taipei City. The trio is in country April 6-11 on a cultural and economic fact-finding mission.
According to the president, since the ROC and Nicaragua concluded a free trade agreement in 2006, exports from the latter to the former have grown nearly tenfold, with Taiwan the top destination in Asia for shipments from Nicaragua. Two-way investment has also picked up steam since her visit in January, Tsai said, adding that Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized a business tour to the Latin American country earlier this month as part of efforts to promote win-win Taiwan investment in Nicaragua.
Tsai attended the Jan. 10 inauguration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo on the second leg of a nine-day official trip to four ROC diplomatic allies in Central America, including Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador in that order. She held bilateral talks with Ortega on issues of mutual interest and discussed ways of deepening the friendship between the two nations with a view to promoting the well-being of their respective peoples.
The government and people of the ROC are sincerely grateful for staunch support of the country’s expanded international participation, Tsai said, vowing to continue enhancing bilateral cooperation. Despite the geographic distance between the two countries, the ROC and Nicaragua are closely and deeply connected across a wide range of areas, she added.
The president said robust cultural exchanges are further evidence of the strength of ROC-Nicaragua ties. A total of 123 Nicaraguan youths are currently studying in Taiwan courtesy of scholarships provided by the government, with the number of recipients tallying 352 between 2003 and 2016, according to the MOFA.
In addition to strengthening the bilateral relationship, such exchanges play a key role in fostering Nicaraguan talents and assisting the Central American country boost its international competitiveness, Tsai said, adding that the government is committed to implementing a wider range of initiatives going forward.
Since re-establishing diplomatic ties in 1990, the ROC and Nicaragua have maintained close and friendly ties, with bilateral exchanges intensifying in recent years across the cultural, economic and political spheres.
According to Taipei-headquartered International Cooperation and Development Fund, a total of 31 TaiwanICDF projects spanning humanitarian assistance, technical cooperation and lending and investment have been completed or are underway in Nicaragua. These include the establishment of a rice development center, which has become a regional leader in improving cultivation of the cereal grain, and development of bamboo cultivation and handicraft production. (SFC-E)
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