Vice President Wu Den-yih is in the Central American nation of Belize for a visit.

The vice president attended a banquet with close to 400 Taiwanese expatriates on Saturday. He thanked Taiwanese expatriates and pledged more support for them from Taiwan's government. He also spoke about Taiwan's economic prospect for the second half of the year.

"With major export markets around the world stagnating, Taiwan had a tough first half of the year. Our exports dropped from January to June this year. But we are confident that in the second half of the year we will catch up," said Wu.

Wu is set to meet Belizean Governor General Sir Colville Young and its Prime Minister Dean Barrow on Monday. Wu will also visit agriculture projects on which Taiwan and Belize have been collaborating.

The vice president is expected to return to Taiwan via Los Angeles on August 24.