Source: Taiwan News (10/19/2016), Focus Taiwan (10/19/2016)
Taiwan hopes to continue expanding and strengthening its cooperation with Pacific Island countries, Vice President Chen Chie-Jen said during a meeting with a delegation of participants in the Pacific Islands Leadership Program with Taiwan on Oct. 19.
The PILP program is an initiative designed for individuals from the Pacific Islands who have a deep interest in leadership training, and peace and prosperity promotion in the region.
Taiwan and the Pacific Island countries share such universal values as democracy, freedom and human rights, and are all concerned about common issues such as climate change, economic development, environmental protection and regional security, Chen said.
He noted that Taiwan has been an important partner of these countries during their development process, and has achieved many fruitful results in this regard. In addition, Taiwan provides scholarships to young people in the region seeking to study in Taiwan's universities and graduate schools, through international organizations such as the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
The PILP program was launched in 2013 with the aim of helping to train 125 young people from the region with good leadership development potential. To date, a total of 96 young leaders have completed the training. Through mutual understanding and close interactions during the training, the participants have been achieving quite substantial results in promoting peace and prosperity in the region after returning to their countries, Chen said.
Taiwan maintains close cooperative relations with countries in the region in the areas of medical hygiene, fishery, vocational training, food security, clean energy and cultural exchanges. He said that Taiwan hopes to continuously cooperate and share its development experience with the region.