The Representative of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to India, Amb. Chung Kwang Tien and two officials of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center In India interacted with journalists, yesterday evening at the State Guest House.

Amb. Chung Kawng Tien thanked the Government for having invited him to witness the biggest festival of Mizos – Chapchar Kut on the 6th March. Interacting with the press, he summarized the journey of the Republic of China from a predominantly agricultural country to an industrialized nation that has invested in technology and manufacturing and leads the world in hi-tech industries today. He spoke of the similarity in terrain and typography of Taiwan and Mizoram and expressed his desire to help Mizoram in agriculture, bamboo and capacity building of human resources. Elaborating on talks he had with the Chief Minister, he said agriculture and bamboo are two sectors of possible co-operation that can be worked out. He said that two agricultural experts, one specializing in grapes would visit Mizoram around mid March to look at the agricultural and horticultural pattern in the state and suggest possible areas of intervention that could translate in concrete actions in these sectors. He said entrepreneurs engaged in the value addition of bamboo and bamboo products could visit his country to see the kind of industry expertise that Taiwan has in bamboo products. He invited students to apply for scholarships offered by the Republic of China (Taiwan) to Indian students at various levels of education and invited Mizo students to apply for higher studies in Taiwan. He said the Mizoram University also could explore the possibility of running a Mandarin language center.

Director of Science and Technology of the Center, Dr. James H. C. Chang informed the press that about 70 jointly funded projects with the Department of Science & Technology and the Department of Biotechnology in the frontiers areas of science and technology are going on. Responding to questions of disaster management and mitigation by Taiwan given the fact that Taiwan is prone to natural disasters such as typhoons, earthquakes and landslides and if some kind of cooperation in this area can be explored, Dr. Chang said Taiwan is at the forefront of disaster management and it organizes training programmes on this area for South East Asian countries and pointed that experts for Mizoram could apply for such trainings in the future.