EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti greets Dr Liu Chih-Kung.
In a few years, thanks to a recently signed EBRD loan, the more than 1.4 million citizens of Kazakhstan’s former capital Almaty will benefit from new street lighting. Not only will the new lights be more reliable than the current, outdated system, enabling people to cross the streets safely at all times of day and night, but the new LED technology employed will also consume less energy and have lower operational costs for the municipality.
As a result of technical cooperation support sponsored by the Taiwanese government, the new municipal lighting company will learn to confidently run a public-private partnership from the outset, starting from transparent procurement and tendering processes.
In order to continue contributing to projects like this which improve people’s everyday lives, on Thursday Ambassador Liu Chih-Kung, Ph.D., Representative of Taipei Representative Office in the United Kingdom, signed a replenishment of US$ 1.75 million to the TaiwanBusiness-EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund as well as a contribution of US$ 250,000 to the multi-donor Early Transition Countries Fund*.
Green agenda and entrepreneurial spirit
Since 1991, pushing the green agenda around the globe and fostering entrepreneurial spirit in developing countries have been among the main objectives of Taiwanese engagement as a donor to the EBRD. Moreover, the geographical reach of Taiwanese generosity has just stretched to include the countries of the southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) with their first contribution of €500,000 to another crucial multi-donor fund: the SEMED Multi Donor Account**, established in 2012 to support the EBRD’s work in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.
“We are delighted to continue to contribute to the important mission of the EBRD and help accelerate transition towards fully functional market-oriented economies from central and eastern Europe to Central Asia and North Africa. In particular, based on the results of our long-term partnership with the Bank, we are happy to commence our commitment as donors in the SEMED region,” said Dr Liu.
Taiwanese support is especially strong in sustainable resource management, intelligent transportation systems, the information technology-related knowledge economy and corporate sector development. In these sectors, the country has world-renowned expertise which it often shares with Bank clients, for example by showing municipal authorities the marvels of an advanced urban transport model with ultra-integrated e-ticketing and optimised car parking management.
“This shows how the cooperation between the Bank and the Taiwanese keeps on growing and we are extremely grateful for their support and contribution to the EBRD technical cooperation funds, which would further help fostering transition in the EBRD’s countries of operations,” said President Chakrabarti, who last year visited Taipei.
*Taiwan is a founding member of the ETC Fund. Other contributors are Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
**Other contributors to the SEMED MDA are Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Source: By Lucia Sconosciuto of EBRD’s Blueprint Magazine
