St Vincent to continue to be Taiwan’s friend

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Attorney General Grenville Williams on Wednesday lauded Taiwan’s efforts to co-organize an international workshop on tackling transnational fraud in Taipei.

Williams was in Taiwan for the Global Cooperation and Training Framework’s International Workshop on Combating Transnational Fraud, which was held from Monday to Wednesday in Taipei.

About 270 civil society specialists, experts, officials and privatesector representatives from 24 countries participated and shared their experience and best practices. The event was “professionally put together and well-executed, Williams told local media.

This spoke to Taiwan’s ability to bring together countries around the world to discuss important issues, he said.

Having participants from around the world also helped reinforce the global network of law enforcement policymakers and facilitate continued education and awareness, which is crucial to combating fraud and other criminality, he added.

St Vincent, which has maintained diplomatic relations with Taiwan since 1981, will continue cooperating with Taiwan in law enforcement through existing channels, he said.

This includes a memorandum of understanding signed in 2017 to tackle transnational crime through the exchange of information and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, of which both countries are members, he added.

Internationally, Williams said that as a member of the UN and as part of the governing body of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, St Vincent would continue to support Taiwan’s participation in fighting crime and other areas.

Those international organizations offer opportunities for Taiwan and St Vincent to show that “we might be small, but we should be given accorded respect as any other nation,” he said.

“Taiwan is a very developed country compared to St Vincent and the Grenadines, but we, Taiwan and St Vincent and Grenadines, are not always recognized at the global level as equal states,” he said.

“We are friends of all, but we are special friends of Taiwan, and we will continue to be special friends of Taiwan,” Williams said.