Chief Executive Officer Thomasson, Ambassador Einaudi, Friends of Taiwan, Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of the Republic of China on Taiwan, I am pleased to present a donation to support the “Young Entrepreneur Leadership Network” project run by the OAS Young Americas Business Trust (YABT). I am also pleased to co-sign with Mr. Thomasson a “General Cooperation Agreement” and the “Taiwan Participation Plan 2003,” which specify how Taiwan will support this worthwhile endeavor in the coming years. These actions today signify Taiwan’s commitment to support OAS efforts on behalf of countries in the western hemisphere.

The Young Entrepreneur Leadership Network project is the brainchild of the Third Presidential Summit of the Americas in Canada, 2001. At the summit, it was agreed that in order to achieve sustained growth in the western hemisphere, an integrated mechanism to promote competitiveness and create job opportunities would have to be established. As a member of the international community, Taiwan has long provided developing countries with capital and technical assistance. Taiwan’s participation at the YABT project is aimed to help needy countries in the Caribbean and Latin America, many of which are friends and diplomatic allies of Taiwan. My government has designated the International Cooperation and Development Fund-Taiwan (ICDF) to be the counterpart of the YABT and to send experts to assist in the strengthening and expansion of the project.

Today’s ceremony is but another example of how the relationship between Taiwan and the OAS has grown in the past few years to the benefit of many people in Latin American and the Caribbean. Some of you may recall how, in response to an appeal from the OAS in 1998, Taiwan participated in a project to rebuild housing in Nicaragua and Honduras following the devastating blow delivered by Hurricane Mitchell. In 2001, Taiwan also donated $150,000 to a peace sub-fund between Guatemala and Belize. We are happy to note that the two countries reached an agreement to establish a transition process as well as confidence-building measures on February 9 at the OAS headquarters, thanks to intensive mediation by the OAS. Last January, a delegation of seven, including permanent representatives of some OAS member states and officials of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development, visited Taiwan to explore opportunities for strengthening mutual cooperation. Upon their return, the delegation members shared their inspiring views with me on several occasions, and it is my hope that some of their expectations will be fulfilled.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our friends present today for their assistance in making this donation and agreement-signing possible. With your continued support and assistance, Taiwan and the OAS are making a positive change in the lives of millions of people.

I would like to express on behalf of my Foreign Minster here our sincere that this project has borne fruit and now that we are initiating this project which we feel our country will benefit from , it will also initiative a process for further participation of Taiwan in the activities of the OAS.

With that in mind, I would like to say it is a very happy occasion for my delegation and the OAS.  I would like to express our appreciation to the Ambassador Chen, and also to the Director of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development, and to Mr. Thomasson who has put so much effort into this.

It is a very good day for the OAS and a good day for us who will benefit form this project.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much,

Let me just recognize the head of the Young Americas Business Trust who is bringing us together and Mr. C. J. Chen, who has been the Representative of the Republic of China on Taiwan here in Washington who has been here a long time, for his great diplomatic skills and his support to practical cooperation and projects in the Western Hemisphere.

I also recognize the presence another entity of the OAS, the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development, Mr. Ron Scheman.  I have also just come from a meting with the Foreign Minister of Honduras, His Excellency Guillermo Perez-Cadalso Arias, and as the Ambassador of Honduras has just said, Honduras and I would say its neighbors in Central America are among the many beneficiaries of the generosity and support and we in the OAS, seeing such favorable treatment, for some of our Member States cannot help but impressed and very grateful.

I think in fact that we would wish that our Observer states would be as generous as the Republic of China on Taiwan has been, even without that status.  So simply I will say thank you again and I will add that I will look forward to continuing cooperation as much as possible.

Thank you very much and I am very pleased to say a few words to the Republic of China on Taiwan and to Dr. Chen for the very generous contribution to the Young Americas Business Trust.  And to Roy Thomasson for the work that he has done has been very productive and we feel it has enormous potential for the OAS and for the Americas and the fact that it has been recognized by Taiwan has great significance for all of us. 

We recently, as you mentioned, went to Taiwan.  There were three Ambassadors with us, Ambassador Antoine of Grenada, Ambassador Marin of Nicaragua, and Ambassador Redezno of Honduras.  And we were all so impressed with the industriousness, the creativity, the innovation, the spirit of democracy and human rights of Taiwan, that it inspired us to look at many different ways we could expand cooperation with your country.

We are very pleased that we have been able to manage a very large housing program in Honduras which we have been managing for the last several years with Guillermo Molina, the head of our office in Honduras, and we thank that these are examples of the good will and interest of Taiwan in the work of the OAS through the Young Americas Business Trust and other entities of the OAS which we greatly appreciate and will always keep in mind.

Thank you very much for your collaboration.