The arrival of 508 guests from 51 foreign delegations to the May 20 presidential inauguration ceremony and related events is sincerely welcomed by the government and people, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs May 17 in Taipei City.
The MOFA said prominent guests from allied countries included King Mswati III of Eswatini, President Hilda C. Heine of the Marshall Islands, President Surangel S. Whipps Jr. of Palau, President Santiago Peña Palacios of Paraguay, Belize’s Prime Minister John Briceño, St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, Prime Minister Ralph E. Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tuwalu’s Prime Minister Feleti Penitala Teo, Deputy Prime Minister Geoffrey Hanley of St. Kitts and Nevis, and Guatemala’s Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martínez. Pope Francis designated Archbishop Charles John Brown, nuncio to the Philippines, as his special envoy to Lai and Hsiao’s inauguration.
The delegation from the U.S. was led by Brian Deese, former director of the National Economic Council, and Richard Armitage, a former deputy secretary of state. Canada was represented by a parliamentary delegation under the leadership of Judy Sgro, chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade, and many members of the European Parliament were in attendance, the MOFA added. Legislators and other officials from Australia, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, and the U.K. were present at the ceremony, as were former president of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė, and Singapore’s former parliamentary speaker, Abdullah Tarmugi. (POC-E)
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