Somaliland’s Minister of Commerce, Industries and Tourism Mohamoud Hassan Saad arrived in Taiwan for a five-day visit on Sunday to sign a pact on trade promotion with Taiwan that seeks to enhance two-way business exchanges, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
Saad’s delegation also consisted of Abdirashid Ibrahim Abdirahman, director general of the Ministry of Trade and Tourism; Abdikarim Ibrahim Suleiman, deputy managing director of the Somaliland Economic Zones Authority; and five Somaliland business representatives, MOFA said in a Monday press release.
During their stay until Thursday, Saad is scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding on business and trade promotion with Taiwan’s Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua (王美花).
The MOU will be the first document relating to trade cooperation and business relations signed between the two sides, MOFA said.
Saad is also set to meet with Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), as well as visit the Economics Ministry’s Export Processing Zone Administration’s Kaohsiung branch, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, the Importers and Exporters Association of Taipei, the Taiwan-Africa Business Association, the Bankers Association of the Republic of China and the Farglory Free Trade Zone, MOFA added.
Saad’s visit is the first ministerial-level visit by a Somaliland official to Taiwan since the visit of Foreign Minister Essa Kayd Mohamoud in February 2022, it added.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and has functioned as a de facto state since then, but it has yet to be recognized diplomatically by any other country in the world.
Taiwan and Somaliland set up representative offices in each other’s capitals in 2020.