Taipei is expected to add the word "Taiwan" to its government-financed donation to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Develop-ment (EBRD) to dilute the unpleasant reference to "Taipei China" under the bank, sources have revealed.
"It's true that Taiwan has been referred to as Taipei, China under EBRD, a name we don't really like," said a source on condition of anonymity. "But since we've donated to the bank through the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) over the years, we'd like to use `ICDF-Taiwan' to refer to our fund," a the source has told the Taipei Times.
Gary Bond, the EBRD's director of official cofinancing, confirmed the move by Taiwan to rename the fund.
"The ICDF has changed the name of the funds through which money is given to EBRD," the visiting official told the Taipei Times.
"The name of the fund now is `ICDF-Taiwan.' That's perfectly OK to do because the money belongs to Taiwan, and Taiwan can put whatever name it wants to on that fund, " Bond said.
"We'll be receiving a formal notification of that from ICDF in the coming days," he added.
The ICDF is Taiwan's key government-financed agency overseeing the country's foreign aid operations. It has donated US$20 million to the technical assistance fund of the EBRD.
Amid its longstanding political struggle with its rival China, Taiwan has used several different designations in the various international organizations in which it participates. This nomenclature ranges from "Chinese Taipei" in the International Olympic Committee and APEC to "Taipei, China" in the Asian Development Bank.
The reference to Taiwan as "Taipei, China" under the umbrella of EBRD reflected part of its sovereignty struggle with China. However, Bond said he was not clear about the reason for the old name under which Taiwan had participated in the EBRD.
Meanwhile, Bond also pointed to the upcoming EBRD annual meeting in May in Uzbekistan as the appropriate timing for Taiwan -- through ICDF -- to sign the formal contribution agreement with the bank to become the fourth donor to the bank's multilateral Mongolia Cooperation Fund.
"As to the formal contribution agreement, we think it'll make a lot of sense to have that signed at the annual meeting in Tashkent ... We can have a signing ceremony associated with that," Bond said.
ICDF signed the letter of intent with EBRD on Dec. 30 in London on financing the bank's Mongolia Cooperation Fund to the tune of US$1 million at the initial stage.
The fund, which is expected to amount initially to 10 million euros, has been pooled with 5 million euros from the Japanese government, 3.3 million euros from Netherlands's Development Cooperation Budget, and 1 million euros from Luxembourg, according to EBRD records.
"Taiwan will be joining those three, and it will have a place at the table. There is a steering committee which governs the use of the fund in the Mongolia Fund, so Taiwan will have a say as to how the fund is used," Bond said.
If the ICDF and Taiwan sign the formal agreement during the EBRD annual meeting prior to the next round of Mongolian fund steering committee meetings, then Taiwan will be able to play a formal role in the steering-committee meeting, Bond added.
Taiwan and Mongolia agreed last September to set up trade representative offices on a reciprocal basis.
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