By Giff Johnson
For Variety

MAJURO — Although Taiwan has focused its funding on dozens of government infrastructure projects in Palau, the president of this western Pacific nation said Thursday he wants to see more business progress with Taiwan.
Speaking on the eve of the second Taiwan Pacific Allies Summit in Majuro, Marshall Islands, Palau President Tommy Remengesau Jr. called Taiwan “a great development partner that has generously supported development infrastructure in Palau.”
“My message to the summit is that Taiwan can also be a development partner in the private sector,” he said. Remengesau is also keen to gain access to Taiwan hospitals and for Taiwanese investment in a Micronesia-region conservation move.
The summit has brought together heads of government from Taiwan’s six diplomatic partners in the Pacific — the Marshall Islands, Palau, Nauru, Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands — to meet with Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, who arrived in Majuro Friday morning for the three-day event.
The Palau President, who is in his seventh year in office, said Palau hopes to partner with Taiwanese companies in telecommunications to bring his remote island nation’s service to a higher standard.
“Taiwan is very well-known for its technological advances,” he said.
“Private corporations that have government support could do a lot of good by coming into Palau to partner with the Palau National Communications Corporation.”
This would provide immediate improvements to Palau’s telecom software and hardware, he said. “By partnering (with PNCC), a Taiwan company could recoup its investment in the long-run, but change the capability of Palau’s telecommunications system quickly,” he said.
A partnership makes a lot of sense and is supported by the Palau national legislature and the PNCC board, he said. “We don’t have the resources, but the need to upgrade the system is immediate,” he said.
Another area that Remengesau sees expanding cooperation with Taiwan through this weekend’s summit is health collaboration, including the establishment of a medical referral option for Palau citizens in Taiwan hospitals, a possibility that is aided by direct air links from Koror to Taipei.
The Marshall Islands last month signed an agreement with the Wan Fang Hospital in Taipei to handle medical referrals of island residents, the first time such a plan has been set in motion.
Taiwan Health Minister Dr. Hou Sheng-mou, in a statement issued Thursday for the Majuro summit, said since 2005, major hospitals in Taiwan have established “sister” relationships with hospitals in each of the six Pacific nations.
“These bonds have translated into training programs for foreign medical personnel,” he said, adding that Taiwan’s focus now is two-pronged: placing health professionals in island hospitals and dispatching specialized medical teams to each of the countries.
Remengesau is also keen to get Taiwan to join other international donors to back the “Micronesian Challenge” — an environmental initiative of the five U.S.-affiliated islands in the north Pacific that aims to put 20 percent of their land resources and 30 percent of marine areas under protected conservation status for long-term sustainability.