Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday said that the ministry is planning to increase funding to its foreign aid agency next year by NT$3 billion (US$95.86 million), as part of the government’s ongoing efforts to gradually boost its international development assistance.
TaiwanICDF, the nation’s primary organization for international development aid, this year has about NT$12.4 billion to meet its goals of assisting developing countries with their socio-economic and human resource development through technical cooperation, financial assistance and humanitarian aid, Lin said in a report to the legislature.
To boost Taiwan’s foreign aid capabilities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has allocated an additional NT$3 billion to TaiwanICDF for the next fiscal year to offer greater assistance to Taiwan’s partners, Lin said.
Photo: Taipei Times
The increased funding for TaiwanICDF is part of the ministry’s overall budget proposal of NT$41.5 billion for fiscal 2026, which has been submitted to the legislature for review and approval.
TaiwanICDF was established in 1996 with an initial allocation of NT$11.6 billion, well short of the NT$30 billion the government had pledged at the time, Lin said.
Since then, the ministry has allocated an additional NT$800 million to its annual budget, NT$17.5 billion short of the pledged NT$30 billion, he said.
Due mainly to the shortfall, Taiwan spent only about 0.049 percent of its gross national income (GNI) on official development assistance (ODA) last year, far below the 0.7 percent suggested by the UN, Lin said in his report.
In comparison, Japan last year allocated 0.39 percent of its GNI to ODA, South Korea 0.21 percent and Australia 0.19 percent, Lin said at the briefing.
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