President Lai marks 85th anniversary of U.S.-funded exchange program

Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and a visiting U.S. State Department official on Monday marked the 85th anniversary of a U.S. government-funded professional exchange program, highlighting its role in strengthening Taiwan-U.S. ties through people-to-people engagement.

In a pre-recorded message played at a ceremony in Taipei for the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), Lai said that he is himself an IVLP alumnus, having joined the program in 2004 when he was a lawmaker.

Thanks to the program, he was able to travel to the United States, where he witnessed firsthand the vitality and resilience of the U.S. democratic system, Lai said.

Over the past eight and a half decades, the IVLP has helped cultivate "countless Taiwanese leaders across all sectors" and has become an important platform for international exchange, he added.

According to Lai, program alumni continue to play a key role in strengthening Taiwan-U.S. relations.

At the same event, Ragini Gupta, director of Press and Public Diplomacy at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, described the IVLP as the department's "most significant exchange program."

"Taiwan is a vital part of IVLP's global story," she said. "Leaders from Taiwan return energized to deepen U.S.-Taiwan cooperation in health, education, technology and democratic governance. In turn, Americans gain a richer understanding of Taiwan's dynamism.

"These people-to-people ties make our policy cooperation stronger and our shared future brighter," she said.

During the ceremony organized by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), its director, Raymond Greene, announced that the AIT will launch a series of events across Taiwan to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

These events will run through July 4, 2026, he added.

The AIT represents U.S. interests in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties.

According to the U.S. State Department, the IVLP "builds long-term relationships between Americans and international leaders in government, business, academia and other fields through short-term professional exchanges that strengthen American communities."

Since its launch in 1940, more than 230,000 participants have taken part in the IVLP, including over 500 future heads of state or government, 12 Nobel laureates, more than 1,600 Cabinet ministers and more than 1,000 members of parliament, the program introduction said.