Dr. the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister, Hon. Frederick Stephenson, Minister of Public Service, Hon. Camillo Gonsalves, Minister of Finance, Hon. St. Clair Prince, Minister of Health, Hon. Curtis King, Minister of Education, Hon. Orando Brewster, Minister of Social Development, Hon. Keisal Peters, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Grenville Williams, Attorney General, Amb. Peter Sha-Li Lan and colleagues from the Taiwan Embassy and Technical Mission, Mr. Sehon Marchsl, Press Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr. Anthony Regisford, Executive Director of SVG Chamber of Industry & Commerce, Mr. Robert Cato, Chief Executive Officer of the East Caribbean Group of Companies (ECGC), and 70 young adults all attended the said function on 19th Januar, 2023.
In his remarks, Premier Gonsalves thanked the government and people of the Republic of China (Taiwan) for its enormous support through bilateral cooperation projects such as the Supportive Education and Training Programme (SET), the Youth Employment Service Programme (YES), vocational training and management courses under the Women’s Empowerment Project, he believes this newly-launched ON-SITE programme would further benefit youth in the country.
Amb. Lan said one of the backbones of over 41 years of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and SVG was education, and Taiwan was willing to share its experiences in investing in education with SVG. The cooperation in education now comprised annual bursary programme, SET and YES programmes, Taiwan Scholarship and TaiwanICDF Scholarship programmes, and the ON-SITE programme. Furthermore, Taiwan would provide additional 10 Taiwan Scholarships from 2023 to 2025. All of these programmes showed how robust the cooperation in education was between the 2 countries. He urged Vincentian young adults to grasp the opportunity and apply for any of the said programmes. He also pledged to stand with SVG in its national development.
Minister Gonsalves, Mr. Regisford and Mr. Cato also made remarks thanking Taiwan’s support for this programme, and praising its timely implementation, they believe it would greatly benefit the youth employment in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. (E)
