Posted on 09/17/2013 11:07:37 PM PDT by TexGrill
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan is still in talks with France over a working holiday program, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday. The government has been in negotiations with the European country for some time, MOFA spokeswoman Anna Kao (高安) told reporters.
“The talks are still ongoing,” Kao said.
She refused to confirm a Taiwanese media report which quoted a French senator as saying that the deal will be sealed soon.
Asked to comment yesterday, MOFA's Department of European Affairs Director-General Zhang Ming-zong (張銘忠) told reporters that there is no timetable on when the reciprocal working holiday agreement will be signed but he welcomes the French senator's remark.
A Chinese-language report filed by the Central News Agency in Paris on Monday quoted Richard Yung, a senator for the French Socialist Party, as saying that he received an official letter from France's interior minister, Manuel Valls, who told him that the deal will be signed in the near future.
According to Yung, the deal will be sealed soon because of the joint efforts made by the French Interior Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry.
French authorities have cleared the legal hurdles in making preparations to pave the way for such a deal, Yung added.
Taiwan and France have been pushing for the program for years.
(Excerpt) Read more at chinapost.com.tw ...
I don’t even know what that is about
What is a Taiwan-France holiday?
Perhaps it’s a program where 200 Taiwanese youths can visit France each year, according to the article.
and Taiwanese cannot visit France presently?
It was poorly written article. I was just guessing.
They have been working on this for years... harder than anything they have worked for ever before....
Whatever this is.
lol
From my cursory look, it appears that a working holiday is an internship in a different place.
OK. but why does this require high level government officials to spend months or years putting it together?
In the Bloggers & Personal forum, on a thread titled Talks for Taiwan-France working holiday pact under way: official , GeronL wrote:
I don’t even know what that is about
What is a Taiwan-France holiday?
Holiday= vacations, tourism Leastwise that’s what it sounds like. Probably easement of visas lower fares free ports that kind of stuff or perhaps student worker exchanges
“OK. but why does this require high level government officials to spend months or years putting it together?”
Probably based on the American model. Consultants, studies, hearings, somebody’s brother in law to print all the material for the hearings, a website and facebook page, somebody paid to manage same.... you get the idea.
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