外交部北美司司長薛美瑜 「MERS檢驗診斷」國際研習營致詞

2015年8月12日

Dr. Kuo  （衛福部疾管署郭署長旭崧） ;
Director Cartin（AIT/T經濟組組長田家希）;
Attendees of the training course;
Distinguished guests: 
Ladies and gentlemen:

Good morning!

It is a great pleasure to be here at the opening ceremony of the International Training Course on Molecular Diagnosis for MERS-Coronavirus, a kick-off program of the newly signed Taiwan-US Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF). On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, I would like to extend our warmest welcome to the lecturers and the attendees of the training course. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to come to Taiwan, also thank you for making great commitments to the betterment of public health for our region and all humankind. Moreover, I’d like to thank our colleagues at Taiwan CDC and our friends at AIT/T for another good collaboration.

Disease knows no boundaries. Since the outbreak of Ebola, Taiwan and the United States have been working closely to support the international response to this pandemic. My government donated 100,000 sets of personal protective equipment (PPE), which through the help of US were delivered to healthcare workers in most needed areas in West Africa. This is followed by our efforts to donate one million US Dollars to the US CDC Foundation and 125,000 US Dollars to the Latin America and the Caribbean through Pan American Development Foundation (PADF). In the meantime, we continue to look for ways to build a safety net to the Asia Pacific region. Last March, with joint efforts of the US, Taiwan established the Ebola Prevention Training Center to help equip health workers in the Asia Pacific region with the tools and skills needed to contain an outbreak of Ebola or other dangerous infectious diseases. Today, we are proud to say, the Ebola Training Center was just one of many endeavors to come. Taiwan is willing and ready to make greater contribution to the global anti-epidemic efforts.

Taiwan and the US have been dedicated to building a comprehensive, durable and mutually beneficial partnership on various global issues. In addition to combating infectious diseases, we also intend to work jointly in areas such as international humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, environmental protection, energy, technology, education and regional development, because we believe those are some areas where Taiwan’s expertise and experiences could be valuable. 

The creation of the GCTF marks the beginning of a new era—a milestone of an even greater partnership between Taiwan and the United States. It also symbolizes our stronger mutual commitments to work for the benefits of our region as well as international community. 

Let me once again welcome all the participants of the training course. We hope your stay in Taiwan will be both fruitful and enjoyable, and we look forward to working closely with you and your governments in the years to come.

Thank you!
 

圖說：郭署長、薛司長及田家希組長與參訓官員、專家及嘉賓合影。