Control Yuan (CY) member and Chairperson of International Affairs Committee (IAC) Dr. Jane Y.W. Chiang attended the 19th annual conference of the Federación Iberoamericana del Ombudsman (FIO) in Mexico City on October 1, 2014, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with her Guatemala counterpart for further collaboration between the two sides.
At the opening ceremony of the FIO conference, Dr. Chiang sat in the front row with the other 20 delegates from Latin American countries and exchanged pleasantries with the President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto, who made his welcome remarks at the opening ceremony. President Nieto and Dr. Chiang both agreed to cooperate more closely on human rights protection and social justice.
Apart from attending the sessions of the three-day conference, Dr. Chiang signed the MOU with Ms. Hilda Morales Trujillo, deputy public defender of Guatemala Human Rights Ombudsman Office. The two sides agreed to officially sign a bilateral agreement next year, marking a new milestone in the CY's international exchanges.
Dr. Chiang noted that she thoroughly studied the international work of the CY after her election as chairperson of the IAC in August. She firmly believes that the control power of the Republic of China (ROC) is unique and worth sharing with more counterparts of the CY in other countries. She therefore was determined to sign the MOU with the Human Rights Public Defender Office of Guatemala, which is an important diplomatic ally of the ROC in Central America. Dr. Chiang thanked the ROC Ambassador to Guatemala Adolfo Sun and ROC Representative to Mexico Carlos Liao for their assistance in realizing the MOU signing.
The CY has regularly attended the FIO annual conference as an observer since 1999, and has built a strong friendship with the Latin American counterparts. The CY has also signed bilateral agreements with the human rights ombudsman offices of Argentina, Panama, Paraguay and Nicaragua.
In addition, Dr. Chiang delivered a speech in Spanish on the "System Development and Work of the Control Yuan” at the FIO general assembly. This was the first speech to be presented by the CY at the FIO general assembly since 1999. Dr. Chiang also shared the experience of the CY with the other delegates at the assembly.