President Tsai Ing-wen met with Keisal Melissa Peters, who is St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Regional Integration, and the Diaspora. In his speech, President Tsai said that Taiwan and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are working together to make the most of opportunities for economic recovery after the pandemic. She also said that our countries are working together on the Women’s Empowerment Project (WEP). This is an effort to give female entrepreneurs in St. Vincent and the Grenadines even more resources and to help working women improve their professional skills. This will make it easier for people from both countries to meet and talk with each other.
Here is a translation of what President Tsai said:
This is Minister Peters’s first trip to Taiwan, and she has agreed to share her valuable experience at tomorrow’s Empower Women! Empower LAC! Forum, as we look for more ways to work together in different areas.
Over the years, Taiwan and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have had many opportunities to get to know each other better and strengthen their friendship. As a result of helping each other out during the pandemic, our countries have made great progress in infrastructure, agricultural technology, public health and medicine, education and culture, and other areas.
Taiwan and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are also working together to take advantage of chances for economic recovery after the pandemic. Together, our countries are working on the WEP to give female entrepreneurs in St. Vincent and the Grenadines even more resources and to help working women improve their professional skills. We are making it easier for people to meet and talk to each other by doing these things.
We also want to keep working together to improve education and culture. Since 2004, more than 200 young students from Saint Vincent have gone to Taiwan to study, which has led to more education and youth exchanges. Starting this year, more scholarships will be given out through the Taiwan Scholarship Program. We would like to see more young people from St. Vincent and the Grenadines come to Taiwan to study.
I’d also like to thank St. Vincent and the Grenadines for supporting Taiwan for a long time. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has spoken out in support of Taiwan’s participation in international affairs more than once. All of us have been deeply moved by these acts of kindness.
To end, I want to welcome Minister Peters to Taiwan once more. I hope that Taiwan and St. Vincent and the Grenadines will continue to improve their relationships with each other and the lives of their people. I hope that Minister Peters’ trip goes well and goes as planned.
Then Minister Peters spoke. He started by saying how happy he was to be in Taiwan and meet with the president this morning. She also thanked the president and her government for inviting her to the Empower Women! Empower LAC! Forum, which starts tomorrow. Minister Peters pointed out that she is the first woman to be in charge of foreign affairs in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, so her participation in this forum means a lot to her. She also talked about how happy she was when Ambassador to St. Vincent and the Grenadines Peter Sha-li Lan () told her about the empower women program. She also said that Ambassador Lan told her that President Tsai is looking forward to her participation and that she is happy to do what she can to let Vincentian women know about this project.
Minister Peters said that the COVID-19 pandemic hurt women, and in the case of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the impact was doubled or even tripled by the La Soufrière volcano eruption. So, she said, it was a good time to start the women’s economic empowerment program, and she thanked the president and the government again for continuing to help the women of St. Vincent and the Grenadines improve their economic situation.
Minister Peters remembered that when she was growing up, she always heard about the Republic of China (Taiwan). She also remembered that she had friends who were able to go to school thanks to bursaries and friends who were able to go to Taiwan to get a higher education. She said that Taiwan has helped St. Vincent and the Grenadines in every way, and they are very grateful for that. She also said that St. Vincent and the Grenadines have shown over and over again that they support the Republic of China in a strong way (Taiwan).
Minister Peters said that the education revolution has been a key part of the current government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, so she is happy to hear that more scholarships will be given out in the next few years. She said that many students are getting ready to send in their scholarship applications for the new season, which has just started.
Minister Peters said that she was looking forward to meeting the other people at the forum and talking to them, sharing St. Vincent and the Grenadines’s experience, and learning from the other countries about how they used the programs that the Republic of China made possible (Taiwan). She thanked the president again for inviting her and said that she was looking forward to a good forum.
Andrea Clare Bowman, the ambassador of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, led the group to the office of the president.
