President Lai to Visit Eswatini; Somaliland Government Tweets Congratulations

The Presidential Office announced on the 13th that President Lai will visit the African ally, the Kingdom of Eswatini, from April 22 to 27. The theme of the trip is "Taiwan-Eswatini Celebrating Together, Hand in Hand for Mutual Prosperity." Presidential Office Spokesperson Kuo Ya-hui stated that President Lai expects this trip to achieve three goals of co-prosperity: security co-prosperity, economic co-prosperity, and digital co-prosperity. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that this trip involves direct flights with no layovers.

The Somaliland Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on X in the evening, stating that the Government of the Republic of Somaliland extends its sincere congratulations to His Excellency President Lai Ching-te on his official visit to Eswatini from April 22 to 26, marking President Lai's first visit to Africa since taking office.

Somaliland is located in the Horn of Africa, adjacent to the Gulf of Aden. It was formerly under British colonial rule and known as British Somaliland. On February 26, 2020, through negotiations, the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the government of Somaliland jointly signed the "Bilateral Protocol between the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Government of the Republic of Somaliland" in Taipei. They agreed to establish official representative offices reciprocally under the names of Taiwan Representative Office and Somaliland Representative Office. (Editor: Lin Ke-lun) 1150419