TAIPEI (Reuters) – Somaliland has “huge” investment potential in untapped oil and gas reserves, the foreign minister of the breakaway region of Somalia told Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday, promoting investment opportunities during a high-level visit.
Somaliland seceded from Somalia in 1991, but its independence has not been widely recognized internationally. The region has been largely at peace, while Somalia has suffered from civil war for three decades.
Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory and is also diplomatically isolated, and Somaliland each set up representative offices in each other’s capitals in 2020.
At a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, Somaliland Foreign Minister Esse Kayd said they would be happy if “huge” Taiwanese companies invested in and traded with the country.
“Somaliland has huge potential for foreign investment in the mining sector. This includes hydrocarbon deposits, oil and gas, and coal, which can be easily exploited,” he said.
“We encourage maximizing trade and investment potential rather than relying on aid payments.”
His delegation, which includes the finance minister, will also meet with executives of the state-owned oil company CPC, according to Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry.
Tsai said both Taiwan and Somaliland are like-minded democratic partners.
“Somaliland has now become an important location in East Africa for Taiwan’s Africa project,” she added.
In recent years, Taiwan has been virtually pushed out of Africa by China on a diplomatic level; only tiny Eswatini still maintains full relations with the island.
China has increased pressure on other countries not to cooperate with Taiwan as it seeks to assert its sovereignty claims.
Kayd said Somaliland is a sovereign state with a right to international relations, apparently targeting China’s opposition to friendship with Taiwan.
“Any coercive or threatening measures designed to prevent such cooperation between international partners do little to promote the peace and security that the region and the world need.”
Taiwan has proven itself to be a selfless development partner for Somaliland, donating 150,000 doses of the domestically developed Medigen COVID-19 vaccine last month.
Somaliland is strategically located on the Horn of Africa and borders Djibouti, where China maintains its first overseas military base.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
