The Republic of China-Central American Economic Development Fund (ROC-CAEDF) welcomed the Republic of Panama as its latest member, at the 8th ROC-CAEDF Board Meeting, held on 24 April 2002 at the Nicaragua Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Managua City.

The ROC-CAEDF, created in 1998, is one of the ICDF's most comprehensive cooperation programs. It supplies financial and other resources in support of projects in a variety of areas including social and economic development in Central America, Central American institutional development, and economic reform, public sector capacity building in the region, and education and training for Central American students and professionals studying in the ROC and other nations. Development efforts funded by the ROC-CAEDF have solidified the ROC's cooperative relations with Central American nations in economic, political, scientific and educational spheres.

Panama Foreign Minister Jose Miguel Aleman Healy formally requested membership in the ROC-CAEDF from former ROC Foreign Minister Tien Hung-mao (Tien at the time was also chairman of the ROC-CAEDF). In his letter requesting membership, Aleman Healy wrote: "For the Republic of Panama, the formalization of this support is fundamental to its bilateral economic agenda with the ROC, in order to fortify and promote commercial interchange between both nations."

Panama's membership in the ROC-CAEDF brings the total members of the Fund to eight. Other members include Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize and the ROC. The ROC-CAEDF board of directors consists of the ministers of foreign affairs of member countries (Foreign Minister Aleman Healy will represent Panama). The foreign minister of the ROC, currently Dr. Eugene Chien, is the chairman of the ROC-CAEDF board.

Panama will be free to participate in future ROC-CAEDF projects, and in current projects. Current projects include the ROC-CAEDF Executive Training Program, support of the Central American Trade Office in Taipei, the seminar on the Central American technical education and vocational training program, scholarships for Central American students studying in Taiwan, and the Central American Organization for the Fisheries and Water Resources Sector strengthening project.

• Update: 2010/12/31
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