Taiwan has been a “very reliable partner” in Saint Lucia’s development, including efforts to digitalize education and healthcare, according to Saint Lucia Ambassador to Taiwan Robert Kennedy Lewis. He also expressed interest in drawing on Taiwan’s engineering and computer science expertise to help more Saint Lucian youth enter those fields.

The ambassador made the remarks to Rti in an interview at a Taiwan ICDF book launch in Taipei on Friday, August 14, where he congratulated the government-affiliated organization on 30 years of international aid and development work.

Ambassador Lewis said such assistance extends across “almost every sector” of socioeconomic development in Saint Lucia, a Caribbean island nation of about 180,000 people, and one of Taiwan’s official diplomatic allies.

In education, Taiwan has helped introduce smart boards into classrooms and supported Saint Lucia’s one-laptop-per-child program, Lewis explained, mentioning Taiwanese computer manufacturer Asus. “We like that brand,” he said.

In healthcare, Taiwan has also helped keep Saint Lucia’s information systems “updated and running smoothly” and supported medical personnel working on non-communicable diseases, while in agriculture, Taiwan has provided assistance “in particular crops to make sure there's an abundance in production,” he said.

Lewis, who has been ambassador to Taiwan since 2022, also mentioned Taiwan’s assistance in providing alert mechanism technology for approaching hurricanes.

Looking ahead, Saint Lucia’s ambassador said he hopes to draw further on Taiwan’s tech know-how: “We look to work together with Taiwan because Taiwan is a very consequential nation, especially in ICT [...] We look forward to the engineering and the computer science skills that Taiwan has so our young people can move into that industry and to make a name for themselves.”