President Ma Ying-jeou met with American food aid agency Food For The Poor President and CEO Robin Mahfood at the Presidential Office on the morning of March 17. The president extended a cordial welcome to Mr. Mahfood on his visit to Taiwan.
President Ma commented that Food For The Poor was established over two decades ago and is recognized as the largest international relief organization in the United States. To date, the organization has spent US$4.8 billion on donations of food or programs to alleviate poverty, and these initiatives have yielded impressive results, he said. The president pointed out that Taiwan also cooperates with Food For The Poor in carrying out some of its foreign assistance work. For instance, rice aid to Haiti is provided via cooperation between Taiwan and the organization. The president said that the storms that hit Taiwan last year resulted in reduced output here and therefore the nation this year does not have much extra rice to provide for assistance purposes. As a result, the government is currently looking into ways to cooperate with Food For The Poor so as to train people in Haiti to raise tilapia which would help to supplement the nutritional intake of the population there.
President Ma furthermore said that in addition to providing food assistance, Food For The Poor also is involved in a variety of programs to alleviate poverty, such as projects to construct housing and to carry out community redevelopment. The ROC government, he said, is currently undertaking a review of its foreign assistance-related policies. It hopes to establish avenues for communication with other similar international organizations that have a wealth of experience and broad range of connections throughout the world, and will seek to implement joint assistance projects with them. This will help Taiwan expand its assistance work into fields in which it has not been active in the past.
Mr. Mahfood expressed his appreciation to President Ma for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with him. He mentioned the cooperation between Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund and Food For The Poor, noting that the two agencies have worked together in providing assistance to countries in Latin America. Mr. Mahfood said he is delighted by the success of the work carried out. He said that given the organizational and funding limitations faced by Food For The Poor, he hopes that Taiwan will continue to lend its support in providing joint assistance to Haiti. These initiatives, which would include food, fish and livestock breeding, and education work, will help to improve living conditions for the population of that nation, he said.