St. Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Terrence Drew is heading back home after a four-day official visit to Taiwan. President Dr. Tsai Ing-wen noted that the two countries have maintained consistent mutual support for each other over the years and continue to achieve excellent results through wide-ranging bilateral collaboration.
Prime Minister Drew led a delegation for his inaugural State Visit to Taiwan and was afforded a 19-gun salute.
“St. Christopher and Nevis is an important ally of Taiwan in the Caribbean. This is Prime Minister Drew’s first visit since he took office three months ago, reflecting his high regard to the bond between our two nations,” President Tsai said, highlighting the long-standing relationship between the two countries.
“Since establishing diplomatic relations 39 years ago, our countries have supported each other through the good times and the bad. And we continue to strengthen collaboration across the board, achieving fruitful results.
“I look forward to our countries addressing issues of mutual concern and engaging in an in-depth exchange of opinions during this visit to further expand our cooperation. In particular, we believe that Taiwan has highly valuable experiences to share in the fields of medicine and health insurance, both of which Prime Minister Drew has expressed an interest in,” “President Tsai said.
Prime Minister Drew said the twin island Federation is “profoundly grateful to you and the government of the Republic of China not only for your warm hospitality but also for the excellent arrangements put in place for the duration of this momentous state visit.
“This state visit to the Republic of China (Taiwan) is significant in more ways than one. It strengthens the solid platform built for well over three decades, which allows us to implement projects under the broad rubric of functional cooperation.
“It also places us at the threshold of a new era of enhanced partnership where we consider creative solutions to the challenges which threaten to prevent us from achieving our development objectives,” St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister said.
St. Kitts-Nevis is among a handful of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries with diplomatic relations with Taiwan that China regards as a renegade province and has asked the international community to adopt its “One China Policy”.
The other Caribbean countries with dip0lomatic relations are St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Haiti, and Belize.
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