The second Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit concluded late last Friday evening with the signing of a declaration.
The declaration called on forum member countries to allow Taiwan to equally participate in the dialogues and meetings of the forum.The leaders of the six Pacific Island countries, including Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, signed the statement yesterday at the end of a fruitful dialogue on medical and health and environment protection issues with the Taiwanese President, Chen Shui-bian, in the Marshall Islands capital of Majuro.
The leaders, in their joint statement, appreciate the important role Ambassador Chen Shui-bian and their countries played in the Pacific region and thus called for other members of the forum to recognize Taiwan by allowing it to fully participate in their dialogues and meetings.
The declaration also reaffirmed the strong commitment of the Taiwan Pacific allies to continue to back Taiwan in its pursuit for admission to the United Nations and other international forums including the World Health Organisation.
The leaders vowed to maintain their official diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
They expressed gratitude to Taiwan for initiating eight cooperative programmes for capacity building, economic development, health and medical services, environment protection, education, law enforcement, tourism, agriculture and culture and society as agreed upon at their first summit in Koror, Palau, last year.