Two Taiwanese companies yesterday announced a donation of 1.11 million medical masks to Ukraine and Estonia for frontline personnel and other medical workers.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a ceremony in Taipei for the donation — which it is helping to facilitate — by Motex Healthcare and Taiwan Comfort Champ Manufacturing.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said that the donation was another example of the government’s slogan of “Taiwan can help and Taiwan is helping.”
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The ministry said that it is supporting the humanitarian aid project by sponsoring the sea freight fees from Taiwan to Tallinn.
One million masks would go to Ukraine and 110,000 to Estonia, Wu said.
Taiwan has partnered with Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other like-minded countries on joint humanitarian aid projects and reconstruction following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he said.
Most recently, Taiwan in November last year donated generators and 2,600 laptops to Ukraine, he said.
The ministry has allocated more than US$130 million for infrastructure projects such as bridges, hospitals, churches and schools in Ukraine, while private donations to the nation by people in Taiwan have exceeded US$32 million, Wu added.
Estonian lawmaker Kristo Enn Vaga attended the ceremony, having helped facilitate the donation in conjunction with the ministry, the Estonian Rescue Board and the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs.
The shipment of masks “will help save lives” on the frontlines in Ukraine amid a supply shortage, said Vaga, who is chairman of the Estonia-Taiwan Support Group of the Parliament of Estonia.
He would oversee transportation of the masks by the end of spring to hospitals and military units on the front lines, he said.
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