President Lai meets with Guatemalan President Arévalo, signs a “Letter of Intent...

2025/06/09

President Lai Ching-te welcomed Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo with a military salute, June 5 in Taipei City. 

Lai then held a bilateral meeting with Arévalo at which Lai anticipated deepening the friendship between the two countries, furthering cooperation contributing to the development of global democracy and regional prosperity and stability.

Lai said that he remembered the video chat he had had with President Arevalo the day after he took office last year, and how they had exchanged ideas on enhancing friendship between the two countries.

Guatemala is an important ally for Taiwan, Lai noted, stating that the two countries have long shared universal values such as democracy, freedom, and human rights. Lai thanked Arevalo for his strong support for Taiwan on many international platforms such as at the United Nations and the World Health Assembly.

Guatemalan coffee is very popular in Taiwan and Guatemala is Taiwan’s fourth largest coffee supplier, with volume reaching a record high of 720,000 kilograms in March this year. Lai encouraged more Taiwanese companies to invest in Guatemala and make good use of its location which has natural resources and high-quality staff to create a win-win industrial cooperation model, further strengthen supply chain resilience, and enhance the strategic partnership.

Arévalo said that this state visit comes at a time when Guatemala and Taiwan are embarking on a new bilateral relationship. In addition to consolidating existing partnerships, cooperation in science and technology, economy, education, and medical care, will move the relationship to new levels as they pursue human well-being together.

The two countries have common goals and clear cooperation guidelines and directions, Arévalo emphasized. He added that Taiwan is an important partner for Guatemala and the “Taiwan-Guatemala Free Trade Agreement,” has advanced bilateral trade. 

Both presidents mentioned the semiconductor vocational training class ongoing between the two countries, which has attracted enthusiastic participation from Guatemalan college students, engineers and teachers. This has allowed the country to take its first step into technological development and demonstrating its investment in innovation and the global value chain, Arévalo said.

Arévalo stated that the two countries are reliable friends and strategic alliances and looked forward to exploring new aspects of cooperation on the premise of mutual respect, trust and solidarity. For 90 years, Taiwan and Guatemala have worked together, he said, sharing experiences, hopes and acting as a bridge for cooperation and dialogue between Central America and Asia.

At the end of the talk, the two heads of state jointly signed a Letter of Intent for Semiconductor Cooperation, the PO concluded.


Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)