President seeks deeper relations with Eswatini

President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for deeper cooperation between Taiwan and Eswatini and thanked the African kingdom’s deputy prime minister for helping ensure his visit in May went smoothly.

At a meeting with Eswatini Deputy Prime Minister Thulisile Dladla at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Lai said he hoped the two countries would deepen cooperation in disaster management, industry, public health and talent development.

Eswatini is one of Taiwan’s 12 diplomatic allies and its only ally in Africa. The two countries have maintained diplomatic ties for 58 years.

President William Lai, right, welcomes Eswatini Deputy Prime Minister Thulisile Dladla at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: Screen grab from the Presidential Office’s Flickr page

Dladla is visiting Taiwan after attending Saturday’s inauguration of the World Alliance for Disaster Management (WADM), an initiative launched by Taiwan and of which Eswatini is a founding member.

“Under the framework of the WADM, Taiwan will share disaster prevention technologies, disaster response and rescue experience with Eswatini and other like-minded countries,” Lai said.

Lai also used the meeting to recall his May visit to Eswatini, which had originally been scheduled for April.

The trip was postponed after Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar withdrew permission for Lai’s chartered aircraft to fly through their airspace.

The Presidential Office attributed the withdrawal of the flight permits to pressure from China.

Lai thanked King Mswati III, the Queen Mother and Dladla for helping make the rescheduled trip possible.

“Deputy Prime Minister Dladla personally accompanied our delegation, traveling tens of thousands of kilometers with us to ensure that our journey there and back proceeded smoothly,” Lai said.

Dladla accompanied Lai’s delegation on the May 2-5 trip, during which they traveled about 25,000km aboard King Mswati III’s aircraft before returning to Taiwan.

Dladla called on Taiwan and Eswatini to expand the “scale, speed and breadth” of their cooperation.

The two sides should focus more on investment, industrial development and energy security, as well as mutually beneficial economic opportunities such as mining, she said.

Dladla also thanked Taiwan for increasing rice assistance to Eswatini as the country prepares for possible severe El Nino conditions.

El Nino can cause drought in southern Africa, threatening crop production. Dladla also expressed appreciation for Taiwan’s support for additional social housing for vulnerable communities.

On the WADM, Dladla said Eswatini intended to help make the alliance “a practical platform for capacity building, knowledge sharing and coordinated action.”