Taiwan and the United States have signed three agreements aimed at strengthening cooperation on international development and humanitarian assistance focused especially on Paraguay and Pacific island nations, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said Friday.
The three agreements include a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that covers areas of cooperation between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF), the AIT said in a statement.
Under the MOU, the two sides will work on international development assistance, humanitarian assistance, research in international development and humanitarian fields, capacity building and training, and knowledge transfers, the statement said.
USAID is an aid agency that administers civilian foreign aid and development assistance to developing countries, while TaiwanICDF is an agency funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide humanitarian assistance and aid mainly to Taiwan’s allies.
In addition to the MOU, two related agreements were also signed Friday between the U.S. and Taiwan.
One stipulates that USAID and TaiwanICDF will coordinate with the Paraguayan Ministry of Industry and Commerce to “strengthen micro, small, and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) and promote development in Paraguay,” the statement said.
The other will pave the way for bilateral cooperation between USAID and TaiwanICDF to “enhance climate and disaster resilience in the Pacific region,” the statement said.
As part of this arrangement, TaiwanICDF will provide up to US$600,000 in funding for a U.S.-Taiwan partnership under USAID’s Pacific American Fund, a grant facility aimed at supporting civil society organizations and improving people’s lives across the Pacific.
The three agreements were signed by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office and the AIT’s Washington headquarters. The AIT represents U.S. interests in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties.
This is not the first time that the USAID and TaiwanICDF have collaborated to support Pacific island nations.
The two agencies co-hosted an online training course on health workforce management for workers in the medical field in the Pacific in July 2021.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel