Szu-chien Hsu
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Republic of China (Taiwan)
December 14, 2018
(As Prepared for Delivery)
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen: good morning!
On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan), I am delighted to welcome all of you to Nantou for this GCTF Workshop on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR), co-sponsored by my Ministry and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). I would like to thank especially the APCSS and the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) for helping to coordinate their training project with this workshop. I also want to thank Taiwan's National Fire Agency for facilitating today's visit to this state-of-the-art training center.
Since the GCTF was launched in June 2015, Taiwan and the United States have jointly held 15 training workshops on a wide range of topics, including law enforcement, media literacy and women's empowerment, among others. Today's workshop will be our second on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR).
Over the past three days, we have held fruitful discussions on how to better integrate private, civil and public sector disaster response capabilities, and we have made headway on a roadmap for transnational cooperation in this respect. These discussions and deliberations have served to strengthen our foundation for further cooperation across the Indo-Pacific region.
Especially since the destruction caused by the earthquake of September 21, 1999, the government of Taiwan has worked hard to enhance our ability to mitigate natural and manmade disasters. Of course, it is neither quick nor easy to develop disaster management practices and build a culture of disaster resilience. Improving resilience involves planning, prevention and preparation efforts prior to an event. To this end, I look forward to having more productive exchanges and sharing experience and expertise during today's workshop on how to strengthen our humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) cooperation in the future.
Let me once again welcome all of you to Taiwan, and wish you all a productive stay and fruitful discussion. Thank you!