Focus Taiwan
By Joseph Yeh
Monday July 31, 2023
Somaliland's Minister of Commerce, Industries and Tourism Monhamoud Hassan Saad (center) poses for a photo along with the delegation members and an official of Taiwan's Foreign Affairs ministry (right). Photo courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 31, 2023
Taipei, July 31 (CNA) Somaliland's Minister of Commerce, Industries and
Tourism Mohamoud Hassan Saad arrived in Taiwan for a five-day visit on
Sunday to sign a pact on trade promotion with Taiwan that seeks to
enhance two-way business exchanges, according to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MOFA).
Saad's delegation also consisted of Abdirashid
Ibrahim Abdirahman, director general of the Ministry of Trade and
Tourism; Abdikarim Ibrahim Suleiman, deputy managing director of the
Somaliland Economic Zones Authority; and five Somaliland business
representatives, MOFA said in a Monday press release.
During
their stay until Thursday, Saad is scheduled to sign a memorandum of
understanding on business and trade promotion with Taiwan's Economics
Minister Wang Mei-hua (王美花).
The MOU will be the first document relating to trade cooperation and business relations signed between the two sides, MOFA said.
Saad
is also set to meet with Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), as well as
visit the Economics Ministry's Export Processing Zone Administration's
Kaohsiung branch, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, the
Importers and Exporters Association of Taipei, the Taiwan-Africa
Business Association, the Bankers Association of the Republic of China
and the Farglory Free Trade Zone, MOFA added.
Saad's visit is the
first ministerial-level visit by a Somaliland official to Taiwan since
the visit of Foreign Minister Essa Kayd Mohamoud in February 2022, it
added.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and
has functioned as a de facto state since then, but it has yet to be
recognized diplomatically by any other country in the world.
Taiwan and Somaliland set up representative offices in each other's capitals in 2020.