Palau is an island with only 487 square km landmass. With frequent rain and high temperature, limited fruits and vegetables are grown in this environment. Therefore, many of the fruits and vegetables are imported from the United States. However, these fruits and vegetables have to travel a long distance to reach Palau, making these produce less fresh and expensive.
Director of the Bureau of Agriculture the Fernando Sengebau explained, shipment of agricultural products from Taiwan will only take around 14 days to reach Palau as compare to 25 days from the United States, making Taiwan produce fresher and cheaper.
With the effort of the Ambassador Tien, Ambassador Harry Tseng, Ambassador Michael Tseng, many progress have made and difficulties were solved. However, it was current Ambassador Wallace Chow who completed the last mile.
To further have the Taiwan fruits and vegetables imported to Palau, Ambassador Wallace arranged Director Segebau and Surangel Whipps Jr. of Surangel and Sons Company and M&R Company manager Marvin Ngirutang to visit Council of Agriculture and Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation (TAPMC) in Taiwan this August to discuss the import matters.
Soon TAPMC knew the purpose of the visit, the company proactively contact with the buyer Surangel and Sons Company. To speed up the process, TAPMC decided to visit Palau from September 12th to 15th. Their aim is to see the producing and import of fruits and vegetables in Palau. After the 2 companies met, Surangel and Sons signed the sales contract to import fruits and vegetables from Taiwan putting an end of this eight years of negotiation.
During the visit of the TAPMC, they showcase Taiwan agricultural products to the community and brought samples of fruits and vegetables to the night market. People were amazed at the quality and the taste of the Taiwan produce. They hope it can be imported sooner. The story also made the headline in Island Times.
圖一：北農舉行展示會活動合影。
圖二：周大使與Surangel and Sons公司總裁見證北農與Surangel and Sons公司簽署訂單。
圖三：北農於夜市宣傳臺灣蔬果。
