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MOFA to unveil new foreign aid plan

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) will soon publish its first white paper on foreign aid to outline a new plan for overseas assistance aimed at putting an end to the image of “dollar diplomacy” often associated with Taiwan’s aid programs, diplomatic sources said.

To emphasize the country’s connection with the international community and the quality of future foreign aid, the paper will use the “Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness” as a blueprint, said a ministry official, who declined to be identified.

The official said that the report would articulately underscore the positive significance of foreign aid.

In the diplomatic tug-of-war between Taiwan and China, foreign aid in its many forms — including construction projects, technical assistance or loans — has often been used as a tool to solicit diplomatic recognition from each other’s allies. But under President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) advocacy of a “diplomatic truce” with China based on a modus vivendi strategy, the ministry began recently to overhaul its foreign aid policy.

Following Ma’s guidelines, which stipulated that the government must formulate a reasonable objective, strategy and method in providing assistance overseas, MOFA officials said that the ministry is conducting an overall evaluation of its policy and will lay out a new policy in the white paper in the next few weeks.

The officials said that the major elements of the Paris Declaration — ownership, alignment, harmonization, managing for results and mutual accountability — would be integrated into the new foreign aid policy.

To alleviate concerns over past mismanagement of assistance programs and misuse of funding, the policy will make “transparency and mutual accountability” top priorities, they said.

The Paris Declaration, endorsed on March 2, 2005, is an international agreement signed by more than 100 countries.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said the declaration was more than a statement of general principles, as it lays down a practical, action-oriented roadmap to improve the quality of aid and its impact on development.

To meet the international standard, a ministry official said that “future foreign aid will be more in line with the long-term, predictable development plans of the receiving countries, “ rather than short-term project requests from allies.

In addition to bilateral aid programs, Taiwan will try to link up with multilateral international mechanisms, such as the “Aid for Trade” program under the WTO.

The official said Taiwan had already made significant contributions in the international domain, noting that it had offered training in the areas of trade facilitation and customs procedures to officials from less developed countries, helping improve their port facilities.

Statistics from the government and the OECD showed that Taiwan provided as much as US$515 million in international assistance last year, accounting for 0.13 percent of GDP, while advanced developed countries averaged 0.28 percent of GDP in foreign aid expenditure.
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