BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE
REPUBLIC of China’s (Taiwan) Ambassador to Solomon Islands, Roger Luo has assured MECDM officials of that there will be more partnerships between Solomon Islands and Taiwan in meteorology and earthquake prevention.
He was speaking at an occasion on July 18 organised by the Taiwan embassy in Honiara for members of Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau and National Taiwan University (NTU) delegations and officials from the Ministry of Environment’s Meteorology department and National Disaster Management Office (NDMO).
In earlier remarks, ambassador Luo stressed that climate change is a very important issue, especially for Pacific Islands.
He stated that as true friend of Solomon Islands, Taiwan has long term cooperation with Solomon Islands in the field of meteorology and earthquake prevention, particularly in tsunami, earthquake and cyclone (TEC) and early warning system (EWS).
The ambassador expressed that it was back in September 2009 when Taiwan sent their first batch of specialist teams to Solomon Islands.
He added that since then, there have been a number of achievements like the Taiwan installed 10 GPS stations and 8 seismic instruments in the country for earthquake prevention.
Ambassador Luo said that in terms of weather cooperation, three auto-mode stations have been installed by Taiwan with three more to be installed this year.
He proceeded to stress that a signed MOU on Meteorology Cooperation between both countries in April last year signifies an important step in their cooperative efforts.
“Another important step for cooperation is that Taiwan and Solomon Islands signed an MOU on Meteorology Cooperation in April 2017,” said Luo.
On another note, he took the opportunity to briefly talk about the work of NTU and CWB.
Ambassador Luo said Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau delegation visited the Met station and NDM office in Auki and installed A900A seismometer in Auki while the NTU delegation on the other hand, travelled to Savo’s seismic station to review facilities and collect data.
He then assured that the Republic of China (ROC) Taiwan will continue to work closely with Solomon Islands government in this cooperative partnership.
“There will be other ongoing cooperation in this field. The embassy would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm Solomon Islands, based on the mutual cordial friendship that we will keep on working closely with SIG,” said Luo.
