TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Thursday (Feb. 27) that Taiwan participated in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2020's First Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM1) last week and was recognized for its preventive measures against the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).

At the regular press conference Tuesday, Sun Jian-yuan (孫儉元), deputy director of MOFA's Department of International Organizations, said that a team led by department head Bob Chen (陳龍錦) attended the meeting held in Malaysia between Feb. 20 and Feb. 22. He said that Taiwan had the chance to talk about the country's epidemic prevention results and received high praise from the attending delegations.

Besides the current outbreak, other areas, including commercial trade, sustainable development, agriculture, and technology were also discussed during the meeting. Sun said that the Taiwanese representatives used National Health Insurance (NHI) cards as an example of how countries can utilize information databases to track the travel histories of their citizens and evenly distribute necessities such as surgical masks, reported CNA.

In a recent statement, the APEC 2020 National Secretariat said that a total of 102 meetings have been lined up for the upcoming year. The APEC 2020 Summit, which will have the theme "Optimising Human Potential towards a Future of Shared Prosperity," is expected to take place in Malaysia this November.