U.S. Senior Official for APEC to Speak at Energy Conference during Taiwan Visit, June 16-17

PR-1633E | Date: 06/14/2016

Ambassador Matthew J. Matthews, Deputy Assistant Secretary and U.S. Senior Official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), is scheduled to visit Taiwan from June 16-17, 2016. Ambassador Matthews will deliver the keynote address at the Conference on Energy Efficiency in Asia, which will be jointly hosted by AIT, the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Energy, and the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the U.S.-Taiwan Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF). This conference is the fifth event the United States and Taiwan have held under the GCTF, following training workshops on MERS, Dengue, and Zika, and a women’s empowerment workshop. The GCTF was established in June 2015 to allow the United States and Taiwan to partner on providing training and technical assistance to neighboring states in the region on health, energy, humanitarian and other global challenges.

During his visit to Taiwan Ambassador Matthews will also meet with Taiwan officials and economic policy and business leaders to exchange views on this year’s APEC goals and other trade and economic matters of mutual concern.

Ambassador Matthews assumed his position as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands and concurrently as the Senior Official for APEC on June 16, 2015. He was previously the Foreign Policy Advisor to Admiral Locklear, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command from 2013 - 2015, and the Deputy Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong from 2010 to 2013. Mr. Matthews has served in Taiwan twice, as Deputy Chief of the Economic Office at the American Institute in Taiwan (1998-2001) and as the Science and Technology officer (1989-1992).