Under invitation from the government of the Republic of China, the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, his excellency Dr. Derek Sikua and his wife, led a delegation to Taiwan for a 7 day state visit. On May 12th, the delegation from Solomon Islands paid a visit to NTU, and was cordially received by President Si-chen Lee in person. Dr. Tung Shen, Director of the Office of International Affairs, Taiwan's ambassador to the Solomon Islands, Mr. Hsiu Ying Chan, and Solomon Islands' ambassador to Taiwan, Mr. Jino Beraki, accompanied the distinguished guests throughout their tour of our university.

Led by a motorcade, Prime Minister Dr. Sikua and his delegation headed straight for the administration building, where they met with the student protocol team who gave a guided tour of the NTU campus while taking pictures as memorabilia. Afterwards, the delegation went into the VIP room to meet with President Si-chen Lee. Director of the Office of International Affairs, Dr. Tung Shen gave an overview of the university and the status of the development of international affairs at NTU. She also expressed welcome to have more students from Solomon Islands to study at NTU. Currently NTU has four students from the Solomon Islands. As Solomon Islands abound in natural resources, NTU welcomes every opportunity to engage in cooperation projects related to natural science with Solomon Islands. In the coming summer, NTU will dispatch a volunteer mission to Solomon Islands to strengthen our students' understanding of the nation and to conduct cross-cultural interchange.

As Solomon Islands has very high expectations for agricultural development, so in the agenda of the visit special arrangement was made for the delegation members to visit NTU's College of Bio-resources and Agriculture. Dr. Bao-Ji Chen, Dean of the College of Bio-resources and Agriculture, personally received the delegation and gave a briefing, and various department heads and directors of institutes including Dr. How-Jing Lee, Dr. An-I Yeh, Dr. Ta-te Lin, Dr. Jui Jen Chou, Dr. Chu-Yang Chou etc., also introduced their institutions. Later on, under the tutelage of Professor Ming-Jung Ho, members of the NTU International Youth Corps to Solomon Islands met with the Prime Minister where they discussed the expectations and planning of their mission. In his typical humorous style, Prime Minister Sikua responded to the students' questions and hoped that the NTU mission to his country would provide opportunities for the youth in Solomon Islands to have cultural exchange and to learn Chinese. Following the interchange, Dr. Bao-Ji Chen led the delegation to tour the Deng-Hui Lee Momorial Hall, the ecological pond and the NTU Experimental Farm. Although the delegation's visit lasted for only two hours, nevertheless it was action packed and very rewarding in that it not only solidified Taiwan's bond with Solomon Islands, but also opened up new initiatives for cooperation with the Oceanic states.