Taiwan donates 30 million dollars to Nicaragua for energy

Jul 12, 2007, 19:19 GMT

Managua - The government of Taiwan granted Nicaragua a donation of 30 million dollars on Thursday to purchase thermoelectric plants that help solve the Central American country's severe energy crisis.

The donation was officially granted at a ceremony at the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry in Managua attended by Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos and Taiwanese Ambassador Wu Chin-mu.

Santos thanked Taiwan for 'this significant gesture of solidarity' and stressed the speed with which authorities in Taipei responded to a request which Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega formulated in May.

On June 1, neighbouring Costa Rica broke decades-long ties with Taiwan to establish diplomatic relations with China. The move prompted rumours that Nicaragua and other Central American countries might follow suit.

Taiwan, seat of the exiled Republic of China since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, is now recognized by only 24 mostly small nations, half of them in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Ortega recently ruled out abandoning ties with what he called 'the brothers in the government and the people of Taiwan.'

Nicaraguan Energy Minister Emilio Rapacciolli said the government plans to acquire the thermoelectric plants later this year.

The Central American country has undergone rationing of electricity in recent weeks, with blackouts lasting up to 12 hours a day.