Ma planning to visit South Pacific allies in early 2010

President Ma was originally scheduled to visit the South Pacific and attend the leaders' summit in the Solomon Islands in October. The plan, however, was canceled due to Typhoon Morakot, which walloped southern and eastern Taiwan in August. The worst typhoon to hit Taiwan in 50 years killed more than 600 people.

“Climate change will be one of the topics expected to be discussed by President Ma and his South Pacific counterparts during the summit,” said Bau-shuan Ger, deputy director-general of the MOFA Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Climate change is an important issue for the South Pacific and all Taiwan's six allies in that region will be represented at the next conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change slated to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark from Dec. 7-18 this year, Ger said.

Other issues of mutual concern, including agriculture, medical services and vocational training, are also expected to be on the summit's agenda, Ger said.

Heads-of-state of all Taiwan's six diplomatic allies in the South Pacific region, namely the Solomon Islands, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu, are expected to attend the summit, whose exact date has yet to be decided, according to Ger. The leadership summit will be the third of its kind since Sept. 4, 2006, when it was first held in Palau, and Taiwan was represented by then President Chen Shui bian.

The upcoming trip will be President Ma's first visit to the South Pacific since he took office in May 2008. He previously visited the Solomon Islands in 1997 in his capacity as a professor.

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