President Ma Ying-jeou interacted briefly with US Secretary of State John Kerry at the inauguration of Panama President Juan Carlos Varela on Tuesday, local time.
Ma said that he thanked Kerry for the United States’ arrangements for his stopovers in Hawaii and San Francisco. The president said they also spoke about Taiwan’s participation in regional trade blocs.
"he United States and [Taiwan] are conducting negotiations on issues related to the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement," said Ma. "We hope that progress can be made on TPP and also bilateral investment agreements with the US. He also thinks that we should keep working on these issues," he said.
Ma said that he and Kerry chatted about the World Cup and their days studying in Boston. Ma said it was really interesting to see eight heads of state and Kerry watching the World Cup while waiting for the ceremony to begin.
During the inauguration, President Ma was seated in the front row of a section reserved for visiting heads of state. He sat between El Salvador President Salvador Sanchez Ceren and Guatemala President Otto Perez Molina.
Both El Salvador and Guatemala are diplomatic allies of Taiwan.