PRIME Minister Manasseh Sogavare and his delegation currently on a state visit to Taiwan attended the 20th Anniversary of Taiwan’s International Cooperation Development Fund (ICDF) at Taichung City.
The Prime Minister was the guest of honour at the event hosted by the Taichung Municipal Authority.
The event saw the exhibition of the stories of Taiwan’s foreign aid endeavours through the ICDF.
ICDF aims to boost socio-economic development, enhance human resources, promote economic relations and offer humanitarian assistance in partner developing countries.
In carrying out its mission, ICDF offers a range of assistance that centres on four core operations and these are lending and investment, technical cooperation, humanitarian assistance and international education and training.
In welcoming Prime Minister Sogavare and his delegation, the Mayor of Taichung City Lin Chia-lung said, “ I am indeed honoured to have the presence of the Solomon Islands Prime Minister and his delegation at this event.”
“ICDF Anniversaries are very important to Taiwan because ICDF is widely recognised for its achievements in international technical cooperation and humanitarian assistance and for this reason, I am indeed proud to host this event.
“For this reason I am indeed proud to host this occasion.”
The mayor said whilst keeping with his promise of being a mayor of the people and establishing an action-oriented municipal government, he has directed the government to enhance Taichung’s international presence with the hosting of events such as the 2018 Taichung World Flora Exposition and the 2019 East Asian Youth Games.
And in his remarks at the occasion, Prime Minister Sogavare lauded the Taiwanese International Cooperation Development Fund, saying it has touched the lives of the citizens of its recipient countries including Solomon Islands.
He said since the establishment of the ICDF in 1996, Solomon Islands has benefitted from a total of 14 projects under the categories of humanitarian assistance, technical cooperation and lending investment.
In addition, he said a total of 13 Solomon Islands students are currently studying at various tertiary institutions in Taiwan under a scholarship programme provided by Taipei under the auspices of the ICDF.
“Indeed the ICDF projects and scholarship programme have positively impacted on the lives of Solomon Islands and I believe it has the same bearing on the citizens of other ICDF recipient countries.
“For this reason, I wish to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Taiwan for reaching out with its resources and technical know-how to the less fortunate and touching their lives.”
Prime Minister Sogavare said the contributions of Taiwan towards the improvement of peoples’ lives around the world deserves recognition by the international community and Solomon Islands will always stand by Taiwan in its bid for international recognition.
He also acknowledged the invitation of the Taichung Mayor and his government for inviting him and his delegation to the ICDF 20th anniversary.
The Prime Minister said Taichung Municipal Authority is blessed to have a visionary and people-centred mayor and wished him well during his term in office.– Source: PM Press Secretariat
