Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) stated via social media on Friday, September 11, that Taiwan is looking to create more cooperation opportunities in talent cultivation, smart agriculture, and healthcare with Malaysia’s Sabah State. This comes after a meeting with the State Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industries of Sabah, Jamawi Ja’afar. 

Ja’afar led a delegation from Malaysia’s Sabah state to Taiwan and met with the foreign minister on Thursday. During the meeting, Lin noted that this was Ja’afar’s first visit to Taiwan, and said he hoped that the two sides would expand exchanges and cooperation in the future. 

Lin noted Taiwan’s work with the Diplomatic Allies Prosperity Project, its advantages in the ICT and semiconductor industries, and related advances in agriculture and medical fields. In smart agriculture, for example, Taiwan has developed AI applications, automated equipment, and data analysis to help improve production efficiency and overall food security. Sharing similar examples for smart healthcare and talent cultivation, Lin said Taiwan is willing to share these advances with like-minded countries and friendly nations.

Sabah is an important agricultural and fishery location in Malaysia, currently working to improve its food self-sufficiency rate. It's also working to improve agricultural planting, fishery processing, and cold chain technologies, which would enhance the value of its products – all reasons to look for further cooperation in smart agriculture.
 
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said in an interview on Friday that Taiwan is open to cooperation in a variety of cooperative exchanges with other countries. He said, “Under Taiwan’s Integrated Diplomacy strategy, the Foreign Ministry continues to promote exchanges and cooperation with governments and various sectors around the world which serve to enhance understanding of Taiwan and create further opportunities for substantive bilateral cooperation.”

Lin noted that Taiwan and Sabah share a great deal, from similar natural environments between mountains and sea, and abundant tourism resources, creating the potential for tourism cooperation and exchanges in the future.