The Taiwan government announces on April 1 to donate from a special fund-raising account dedicated to Ukraine refugee relief US$ 1 million each to five democratic partners: Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in support of their works in sheltering displaced Ukrainians. This office stands ready to facilitate Taiwan’s ❤️ to Ukrainian friends in a speedy and effective fashion.

At an international press conference held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaushieh Joseph Wu announced that a special account established to raise funds for Ukraine had amassed NT$930 million. Minister Wu also named a list of recipient countries for a third disbursement of donated funds.

Minister Wu explained that MOFA set up a special account through the RDF to collect monetary donations shortly after Ukraine was invaded by Russia. He said that the donation drive, which was launched on March 2, had received an overwhelming response from the Taiwanese public, amassing more than NT$100 million by the following day and going on to collect 127,854 donations totaling NT$934,065,533 by the morning of April 1.

Minister Wu said that to ensure assistance gets to Ukrainian refugees quickly and effectively, on March 7, MOFA sent NT$100 million (around US$3.5 million) to Poland, which has taken in the highest number of Ukrainian refugees to date, with the funds to be allocated by the Polish government’s Governmental Strategic Reserves Agency. On March 15, MOFA disbursed a second tranche of funds worth US$11.5 million, with US$6.5 million going to Poland; US$1.5 million each to Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary; and US$500,000 to Lithuania. The funds will be distributed to relevant government agencies in these countries, Ukrainian aid funds supervised by these governments, local governments sheltering refugees, and designated relief organizations.

During the press conference, Minister Wu announced that to further bolster joint assistance efforts by Taiwan and its democratic allies, Taiwan will be making a third disbursement, donating US$1 million each to Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia—a total of US$5 million—to help settle Ukrainian refugees. He said that Taiwan will continue to use international and bilateral mechanisms to discuss with democratic partners around the world how to best provide assistance to Ukraine. Adding that Taiwanese agencies have been exploring how Ukrainian students can be helped to study in Taiwan, he stated he hoped to find even more direct channels through which to assist Ukrainians.

In addition to monetary donations, the public’s heartening response has also allowed MOFA to collect more than 31,000 boxes of in-kind donations totaling 650 tons. Twelve shipments have been sent to Slovakia since March 17, with more due to be flown to Poland going forward.