Mon, Apr 15, 2024 page1

• Taiwan to expand foreign aid projects, cooperation

  • By Yang Yao-ju and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  Taiwan is to expand its scope of foreign aid projects and cooperation with other countries to include three new categories, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

  Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) is today to deliver a report to the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on the ministry’s goals for international cooperation on development issues.

  The ministry works with the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), which has 20 overseas technical missions in 19 countries, the ministry’s report to the legislature says.

  

  Conscripts performing alternative military service participate in an International Cooperation and Development Fund foreign aid project, tending plants in Saint Lucia in an undated photograph.

  Photo courtesy of the International Cooperation and Development Fund

  The fund has 130 personnel, including expert consultants, technical personnel and Chinese-language teachers, who are stationed at those missions, the ministry said, adding that the missions’ work has previously focused on food security, public health and medical care, digital transformation, industrial upgrading, humanitarian assistance and capacity building, among other fields.

  That work would be expanded to include three new areas, namely environmental protection, the preservation of biodiversity and achieving net zero carbon emissions, which would expand Taiwan’s capacity as a force for good, the ministry said.

  The new areas of cooperation would help partner countries achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, it said.

  Over the past five years, the ICDF has implemented an average of 100 cooperative technical projects annually, and has worked closely with like-minded countries through the Global Cooperation and Training Framework, the ministry said.

  In terms of food security, the fund has worked with Pacific Island countries such as Tuvalu, Palau, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, as well as countries listed under the New Southbound Policy, and partner countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, it said.

  That work has involved implementing plans to improve agricultural product supply, and to prevent and control pests and diseases, it said.

  Regarding public health and medical care, it has established permanent medical teams in Pacific island countries and Eswatini, and has worked with partner countries in Latin America on executing plans for chronic disease prevention and treatment, the improvement of maternal and infant healthcare, and medical information management, it said.

  In the emerging field of digital governance it has helped Belize, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia enhance capabilities by implementing traffic supervision services, smart bus management and monitoring, and land management systems, it said.

  The ministry also plans to help partners improve business information management and integrate technology into teaching.

  “We’ve also made great progress on talent cultivation. Over the past three years, an average of about 55 countries have participated in the training,” the ministry said. “There have also been 2,993 people who have received scholarships, and there are currently 480 students from partner countries studying in Taiwan, including at the graduate level.”

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