Taiwanese Ambassador Bids Farewell to Saint Lucia

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]is Excellency Ambassador Ray H.W. Mou was pleased to meet with various media houses on Tuesday 14 February, 201, to present the progress of all the projects through which the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Saint Lucia created homely and diplomatic ties.

He expressed his gratitude to the people of Saint Lucia for helping him and his mission have a favourable stay. During his salutations he noted the foods that he especially enjoyed eating (with the right creole pronunciations, too) and his exciting trips to and from the south of the island after Tropical Storm Matthew.

Then it was time to get down to business. Ambassador Mou gave a thorough presentation of infrastructural, agricultural, medical, and humanitarian projects the Taiwanese Embassy has assisted the government with over the years and shared statistics, some of which had previously not been widely known.

According to the Ambassador hundreds of farmers, aqua farmers, civil servants and students have benefitted from Taiwan’s contributions. Job opportunities were increased by thousands and the embassy established some 50 co-operation projects.

Ambassador Mou’s presentation included before and after pictures, that he was ecstatic to share, of constituency development projects that had been completed, including the Praslin and Savannes Bay jetties. A number of other interesting ventures were recognized including a meat processing facility, contribution to the reconstruction of the Walcott House, the Vigie Beach vending facility, black sigatoka prevention projects, sustainable energy projects, disaster relief efforts, implementation of the Saint Lucia-Taiwan Partnership Trade Exhibition and so many others. The presentation was proof, if any was needed, that members of the Taiwanese mission in Saint Lucia have been dedicated to aiding in any way possible.

After his address, H.E. Ray Mou expressed his heartfelt appreciation for our country and its people. The ambassador is set to leave Saint Lucia by the end of February to carry out his duties in Kuwait. He remarked that he will miss Saint Lucia and that the embassy’s work is not just for diplomacy but also to help even in the smallest, intimate ways.

“Taiwan has been very efficiently performing here,” he said. “All these resources we share with Saint Lucia, it is directly injected into your economy like a major part of the Constituency Development Programme (CDP). All these developments are based on your own people’s efforts.”

Richmond Felix, Principal Information Officer from G.I.S. rendered his gratitude to the ambassador and Taiwan on behalf of the government and Saint Lucia.

The new ambassador for Taiwan will arrive in Saint Lucia in March 2017.