The government has launched a joint campaign with the private sector to collect donations for humanitarian aid for Iraq, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
In a meeting with more than 20 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), ministries and air and sea transportation rep-resentatives, the foreign ministry said the government would set up the "Love from Taiwan" fund to finance relief work in Iraq.
"The Presbyterian Church of Taiwan donated US$10,000 to the joint fund, while the Chinese Fund for Children and Families Taiwan donated another NT$100,000 on the spot," said Christian Li (李世勳) of the Red Cross's Department of International and Public Affairs.
A participant at the meeting who declined to be named said politics should be kept separate from humanitarian aid to Iraq, but another joked that the government could be using the aid as an investment.
"He said [Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein's regime has been so close to China," the participant quoted a government official as saying. "Once Saddam is toppled and a new regime is established, maybe Taiwan can then forge political ties with Baghdad."
The new fund is likely to crowd out existing NGOs, who said they were already short of funds for relief work in Iraq.
"The donations we've received so far have been quite thin," said Chen Feng-yi (
"As of yesterday, we've received less than NT$100,000," Chen said.
Many NGO representatives at the meeting suggested the ministry make use of the International Committee of the Red Cross to transport aid to Iraq and distribute it there, Li said.
The Red Cross is the only international charity organization operating in Iraq.
The organization has around 100 staffers in the northern part of Iraq, Baghdad and the southern city of Basra, while another 10 international experts have been deployed in the field, Red Cross spokesperson Antonella Notari said last week.
The government would contact the Red Cross to to seek further cooperation, one ministry official said at the meeting.
Chen urged donors to abide by Red Cross guidelines on contributions for Iraq and that it would be unwise for all the NGOs here to independently come up with goods for humanitarian aid.
"It would be better to purchase and collect goods in accordance with the Red Cross list," Chen said.
The Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, which has taken a lead role in previous relief efforts, was absent from yesterday's meeting.
"We've been engaged in prayers for peace recently. So we were unable to send any representative to the meeting," said Joe Wang (
The meeting did not address how the government-promised NT$150 million of aid to Iraq would be shared between the government and NGOs, Li said at the meeting.
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