The Taiwan-Africa Summit, the first ever such event to take place in the history of Taiwan-Africa co-operation, commenced in the Taiwanese capital yesterday, 9th September 2007. In his address to declare the Summit opened President Chen Shui Bian underscored his delight in hosting the momentous occasion, reminiscing about the moments he had had the opportunity to meet with various African allies. ‘’I am pleased that today in Taipei we can host the first Taiwan-Africa Summit on behalf of the Taiwanese government and its people, to extend our warmest welcome. Since I became president in 2000, I visited our allies of Africa twice. I have personally witnessed that our African allies devoted to national development have seen its fruits.

”I believe this summit can further enhance mutual understanding and also set up a new milestone for the co-operation between Taiwan and Africa. Despite the long distance between African allies and Taiwan, our relations remain always cordial.”

President Bian added that the government of Taiwan always follows the principles of friendship and mutual assistance to develop projects of co-operation with its African allies. “The history of co-operation between Taiwan and Africa can go back to 1960. We sent agriculture missions, technical missions, medical missions, handicraft missions. We further expanded to other areas such as the provision of scholarships to young African elite to study in Taiwan. We also host a number of courses such as food processing, agriculture policy and agriculture community developments in order to train African students in the globalisation era and also facing the impact of environmental deteriorations.”

President Shui Bian further noted that Taiwan and its African allies had to continue the mutual co-operation to establish progressive partnership relations. “Taiwan is willing to develop more comprehensive co-operative projects. We must continue high level dialogue to deepen and widen items of co-operation, especially to build up information to deal with environmental pollution and to maintain peace and stability in Africa,” the president assured.

He pointed out that in accordance with the UN Millennium Declaration, we must build a peaceful, prosperous and just international community.

He called on all governments to take up the collective responsibility to save-guard human dignity, equality and justice.

Shifting focus on the situation in Darfur, Sudan, President Shui Bian observed that it is ironical that the refugee issue has not been solved yet. “Taiwan and its African allies are concerned about this human rights issue deeply and have been thinking how we can help even though Taiwan is not a UN member because of China’s isolation. Taiwan as a responsible member of the international society, is willing to work together with its African allies- The Gambia, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Sao Tome and Principe and Swaziland- to maintain peace and development, in particular to secure long term peace and security in Africa.

The Taiwanese president further reiterated his government’s commitment to the development co-operation that currently characterise the existing bilateral relations between the Republic of China and Taiwan. “Taiwan is willing to help Africa in the areas of ICT, economic development and trade, medical care and environmental protection. Taiwan and its African allies will collectively advocate the establishment of world environmental organisation,” he stated, noting, “This organisation can help integrate transnational efforts to deal with severe challenges.”

For his part the Burkinabe president Blaise Compaore said” Africa has lot of things to learn from Taiwan because its advance in technology, medicine and agriculture, In this word there are lot of evolutions we should exchange experiences and assist each other when needs be.

Taiwan has right to be member of UN , WHO, ILO, world trade orgnanisation because of            its stand in human development, technology, medicine etc.

The president of Malawi Bangui wa Mutharika said ”I believe through this mutual dialogue we will be able to identify our comparative advantages for strengthening and nurturing the existence cooperation.“ The main focus of our relations had been Taiwan’s support in the agriculture sector especially in using new technologies to improve agriculture productivity, recently our cooperation has expanded to include other sectors such as information technology, health and trade.’’

“We in Malawi are currently determined to move out poverty.“ I wish to express concern about the continued rejection of Taiwan as member of the UN. I still believe that this is against the principle of universality and justice.

Mrs Isatou Njie Saidy vice president of the Gambia deputisng for president Yahya Jammeh said “The  convening of this summit is a clear manifestation of the strong resolve to strengthen the good friendship and cooperation that has always existed between with Taiwan and countries in Africa, The Taiwan summit she said will provide us  with the unique opportunity to review the cooperation between Taiwan and African  countries and to adjust our strategies to optimize the benefit we derive from our cooperation, and safeguard our mutual interests.

“For us in the Gambia as it is perceivably for others, our cooperation with Taiwan is based on the principles of mutual trust and respect, which over the years has been rewarding, we will continue to champion the Taiwanese cause for total and unconditional recognition and justice of all international fora. We remain also convinced that the continued denial to the country to play its rightful role in international affairs, is the greatest injustice that can be done to the Taiwanese people 23 million, is the greatest injustice the denial is a suppression of the views of millions of people who yearn to enjoy the benefits of international partnership and cooperation in a free and fair  international environment.

As we deliberate on “Africa of It and growth as an appropriate theme of this summit, it is our hope that Taiwan, being ranked 13th in the world in its networked readiness index by the world economic forum would be able to provide the much needed technological support and assistance to its African allies in creating the digital opportunities and bridging the digital divide in the process information technology is undoubtedly a crucial determining factor in helping countries to deliver on the broader development objectives especially in sectors such as health and education where the demand for IT use at promoting research and adopting best practices is most paramount, Our cooperation with Taiwan and also between and among us as allied of Taiwan should explore to support ways to help us to tackle these and other capacity areas crucial to support our growth and sustainable development aspirations,

Taiwan is always regarded as reliable and indeed dependable partner, that we count upon to assist its African allies in making marked advancement in ICT development and promotion through sharing of experiences and best practices, In this way Taiwan, would help us become independent producers of ICT knowledge ourselves.”