September 6, 2015
No.184
The Republic of China (Taiwan) donated US$700,000 to support Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) initiatives during the third APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM3) in Cebu, the Philippines, on September 6. This contribution was achieved through the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Chinese Taipei and the APEC Secretariat Concerning Contributions to the APEC Support Fund and APEC Policy Support Unit.
The APEC secretariat issued a news release the same day thanking Chinese Taipei for its long and active participation in APEC initiatives in such areas as food safety, energy, small and medium-sized enterprises, and startup growth. APEC also affirmed Chinese Taipei contributions to help improve natural disaster resilience and business resumption among APEC economies.
Chinese Taipei has participated in APEC meetings and activities as a full member since 1991. It also continues to promote endeavors with respect to disease control and health, medical exchanges, emergency response, human resources development, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). In recent years, for example, Chinese Taipei has put forward three multiyear projects: Strengthening Public-Private Partnership to Reduce Food Losses in the Supply Chain, Innovation for Women and Economic Development, and Improving Natural Disaster Resilience of APEC SMEs to Facilitate Trade and Investment. By promoting a variety of capacity-building plans and hosting international conferences, Taiwan has been able to share its development experiences with other APEC members and help realize APEC aims and prospects.
Chinese Taipei’s active participation in APEC has been widely affirmed by other member economies. It has also raised three other initiatives: Innovation for Women and Economic Development, APEC Accelerator Network, and APEC Digital Opportunity Centers, which is a 10-year project launched in 2004. These were lauded by economic leaders at the 2014 APEC summit and adopted through the Leaders’ Declaration. In addition, the 2014 Joint Ministerial Statement from the APEC Ministerial Meeting also included eight important Chinese Taipei initiatives on energy security, disaster relief, and small and medium-sized enterprises, highlighting Chinese Taipei’s substantive contributions to APEC.
The APEC Support Fund was established at the 2014 APEC Ministerial Meeting to help member economies with capacity building in economic and technological cooperation. Part of Chinese Taipei’s donation of US$700,000 is also earmarked for the Human Security Sub Fund initiated by Chinese Taipei in 2006. Established in 2007, the APEC Policy Support Unit is responsible for researching and analyzing APEC-related issues.（E）