Taiwan has notified the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) of the total amount of aid donated last year by the government in response to calls from the international community to bring transparency and professionalism to the sector, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday.
“Although Taiwan is not a member of the OECD, we sent a notification about our total allocation for official government aid in 2010 to the organization on our own initiative,” Stanley Kao (高碩泰), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Economic and Trade Affairs, told a news briefing.
The notification was submitted to the OECD earlier this week by the International Cooperation Development Fund, the nation’s development aid agency, Kao said.
The OECD’s Development Assistance Committee compiles information on official development assistance (ODA) — aid resources made available by governments on concessional terms to developing countries — and measures the performance of donor countries by calculating the percentage of gross national income (GNI) spent on official development assistance.
According to Kao, Taiwan’s ODA loans amounted to US$380 million last year, or 0.101 percent of GNI — lower than the ratio of 0.28 percent for the OECD donor community as a whole and the 0.7 percent target set by the UN.
“There is still room for improvement in development aid. However, considering the economic scale of the country, the ODA allocation is in proportion to the role it [Taiwan] plays in the international community,” Kao said.
Tao Wen-lung (陶文隆), the fund’s secretary-general, also told the briefing that Taiwan and Indonesia had reached a consensus on possible development projects on Morotai Island, off the northeastern tip of Indonesia.
About a year ago, Indonesia invited Taiwan to help develop the rugged and forested island, measuring about 1,800km2. Taiwan has attached “significant meaning” to the invitation given the lack of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
“In a diplomatic sense — that the Republic of China was the only country invited by Indonesia to help it develop the island — this is something unusual and vital. Indonesia has abundant resources and is not far from Taiwan,” Tao said.
He said the initiative demonstrated not only an improvement in bilateral relationships, but also a recognition of Taiwan’s ability to carry out development projects.
Morotai Island, taken by US forces in September 1944 during the Battle of Morotai, possesses tremendous potential for tourism, with a broad range of historical and natural attractions, including weapons discarded at sea and rare species in its ecosystem, Tao said.
Initial studies on the environment also found that the unpolluted island may be suitable for growing herbal plants and aquaculture, he said.
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