In order to help Saint Lucia cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, and on behalf of the Ministry of Justice of Taiwan, the new Ambassador from Taiwan, His Excellency Peter Chia-yen Chen donated 10,000 surgical masks, specifically to frontline law enforcement workers of Saint Lucia, including policemen and firefighters, at a ceremony held at the Embassy on 14 August 2020.
Hon. Hermangild Francis, Minister for Home Affairs, Justice and National Security, Hon. Stephen Julien, Attorney General, and Acting Police Commissioner Milton Desir received the donation on behalf of Saint Lucia.
Ambassador Chen commended Saint Lucia for its great accomplishment in achieving 100% recovery rate and zero death toll for COVID-19. He stressed that the donation will better protect the law enforcement workers when conducting their responsibility of maintaining law and order. He also praised Saint Lucia for being one of the closest diplomatic allies of Taiwan and has always been on the front line of supporting Taiwan’s participation in international organisations such as the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO). He stated that it’s only natural that Taiwan stands by Saint Lucia, especially at a time like this and the donation is just part of Taiwan’s commitment to this partnership.
Minister Francis recalled that this is not the first donation Taiwan has given to Saint Lucia. He stressed that Taiwan has continued to be a very good friend of Saint Lucia, and he would like to thank Taiwan on behalf of the Saint Lucian people for continuous support in medicine, agriculture and various other fields.
Attorney General Julien said this donation will keep Saint Lucia on the right path, and enhance the relationship between Saint Lucia and Taiwan. He stressed that the donation will be put to good use and wished all the best for Ambassador Chen’s tenure.
Acting Commissioner Desir expressed his heart-felt thanks for the donation. He said the face masks would “go a very long way” in helping frontline policemen, especially with the increased burden for maintaining COVID-19 protocols.
With this donation, the aggregate medical supplies donated by Taiwan to Saint Lucia now includes: 320,000 surgical face masks, 10,000 N95 masks, 4,000 isolation suits (for indoors and outdoors), 2,000 protective suits, 2 PCR machines with 720 test kits, 20,000 tablets of hydroxychloroquine, 450 portable handheld thermometers, 6 body temperature imagers and 3 forehead thermometers with display screens.
