Taipei, May 4 (CNA) Dan Shechtman, winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2011, is scheduled to visit Taiwan on Sunday and said he is excited about his trip.

Ahead of Shechtman's trip, Taiwan's representative to Israel Chang Liang-jen briefed the Nobel Laureate on Taiwan, the state of relations between Taiwan and Israel and the two countries' political, trade and economic exchanges in recent years.

Shechtman said he had planned to visit Taiwan in 2004 but was unable to come at that time. He was very excited about the upcoming trip, especially because his wife was highly impressed by Taiwan when she visited the island for a conference in July 2010.

The Israeli scientist also expressed his concern over the low birth rate around the world and said that in his lecture he would encourage people in Taiwan to give birth to more babies.

The scientist will be the second Israeli Nobel Prize winner to visit Taiwan this year, following the visit of Ada Yonath, the 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, in March.

(By Nell Shen)
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