Taiwan, Somaliland sign coast guard cooperation deal

Taipei, July 24 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on Thursday lauded a new agreement signed between Taiwan and Somaliland in Taipei that day, saying it would pave the way for new maritime cooperation between the two sides.

The coast guard cooperation agreement will open a new chapter in maritime collaboration between Taiwan and Somaliland, Lai said during a meeting with visiting Somaliland Foreign Minister Abdirahman Dahir Adam in Taipei.

The agreement, signed by Commander of the Somaliland Coast Guard Ahmed Hurre Hariye and Taiwan Coast Guard Administration Director-General Chang Chung-lung (張忠龍), followed a meeting between the two sides in 2022, when then-CGA head Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) noted that both sides could collaborate on training, exercises and mutual visits of personnel.

Lai said that authoritarian regimes had continued to apply new forms of coercion as they intensified campaigns blocking Taiwan's and Somaliland's international participation.

He called for deeper bilateral partnership to "demonstrate the resilience of democratic alliances."

Lai added that in addition to strengthening partnerships, Taiwan also looked forward to working through multilateral cooperation platforms with Somaliland to pursue "the strategic goal of a non-red Somaliland coastline," without elaborating.

Adam, the minister of Somaliland's foreign affairs and international cooperation, arrived in Taiwan on July 21 for a five-day visit.

Joining him at the meeting with Lai was Minister of Presidency Khadar Hussein Abdi and Admiral Ahmed Hurre Hariye.

Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and has functioned as a de facto sovereign state ever since, but is not officially recognized as a nation by any country.

Taiwan and Somaliland established representative offices in each other's capitals in 2020.