Despite being far away geographically Taiwan and The Gambia have shown the world that nothing can separate them as true and sincere friends.

This was clearly manifested by the recent visit of the Taiwanese Foreign Affairs Minister to The Gambia.

The fact that The Gambia was the first port of call for Minister Ou since he assumed the post few months ago speaks volumes about how special the administration of president Ma Ying-jeou sees their relations with The Gambia to be.

During his four-day official visit, Minister Ou also visited some projects who benefited from his country’s benevolence namely RVTH, Siffoe and Banjulunding women’s garden.

We thank him for the visit and for choosing The Gambia as the first country to visit since assuming office.

The efforts of Taiwan in fulfilling their obligations to the international community, including Africa, is also worthy of mention. This is manifested by the generous assistance she is giving to the to the rest of the world.

As a true partner, Taiwan continues to support almost all the development endeavours of The Gambia for instance.

Over the years, Taiwan has demonstrated her resolve in complementing the efforts of the Gambian government in improving the living standards of her people. Sectors such as education, agriculture, infrastructure and health have all benefited from the largess of the ROC during the course of this year and previous years.

The government of President Ma Ying Jeou has reaffirmed their resolve to maintain and strengthen relations with The Gambia. This is both welcome and encouraging.

In a letter addressed to President Jammeh on the 17th of June 2008, H.E. Dr. MA, Ying-jeou, President of the Republic of China on Taiwan, said, “we have always treasured the brotherhood that our two nations share and, based on this solid friendship, we will explore the potential for further co-operation in the future”. As Gambians we cherish our relationship with Taiwan for the benefit of the people of our two countries.

On this very important day, while we celebrate with our Taiwanese friends, we once again call on the UN and other world bodies to consider admitting Taiwan because the world is losing a lot as a result of the exclusion of Taiwan from the workings of UN specialised agencies.

We would also like to congratulate the Governments of Taiwan and The Gambia for the building the relationship for the benefit of their two peoples.