On May 18th, the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association co-hosted the Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF) virtual workshop, COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-out: Experiences and Challenges with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Taiwan), Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the British Office Taipei and the Australian Office Taipei and Chief Representative, Hiroyasu Izumi gave a speech at the opening ceremony.
This is the sixth time GCTF has had the theme of COVID-19 since the initial outbreak. As infection rates dramatically worsened, public health experts from Taiwan, the US, the UK, Australia, the EU, Israel, Canada, and Japan participated, sharing their knowledge and previous experience of the importance of vaccination and effective implementation methods, and furthered discussions.
The speech from Chief Representative Izumi follows.
I am delighted that the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association is able to co-host the GCTF virtual workshop titled COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-out: Experiences and Challenges with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Taiwan), Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the British Office Taipei and the Australian Office Taipei today. We extend a warm welcome to our British and Australian co-hosts.
Up until now, Taiwan has had great success in containing COVID-19. More recently, Taiwan has been facing challenges, but I believe that the country will overcome this crisis. First of all, I would like to express my sincere respect for, and gratitude to, all the healthcare workers who are working so hard right now on the front line in the fight against coronavirus.
The General Assembly of the WHO will be held on the 24th of this month. The G7 foreign ministers’ meeting was held in London the other day and all seven members agreed to support Taiwan being involved in WHO-related mechanisms and the WHA in a meaningful way. Support in the international community for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO in continuing to increase. Japan intends to continue to support Taiwan in this matter.
Vaccination is the best way of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. Widely sharing the experience and knowledge of workshop participants will be a valuable reference for countries implementing vaccination in the future. I hope that all the experts will use this workshop to actively exchange opinions on their knowledge and experiences.
Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who has worked tirelessly to make today’s GCTF virtual workshop possible. Thank you.
写真提供：外交部