A program launched in Guatemala to help that nation export papayas and another launched in Panama to help produce and export safe vegetables and fruit were cited in a workshop sponsored by the WTO and other global organizations in October, said Chen Lien-chun, secretary-general of the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The workshop was sponsored by the WTO's Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) , the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The papaya export program, initiated by a Taiwanese agrotech mission in Guatemala, is an integrated operation ranging from planting papayas and quarantine checks to packaging and export promotion, while the safe vegetables and fruit program, initiated by Taiwan's agrotech mission in Panama, is an operation that uses technology developed by the mission to detect pesticide and chemical residues in locally produced vegetables and fruit before the produce is put on the market, Chen said.

This technology has also helped Panamanian farmers to export their produce, Chen went on.

He noted that the Aid for Trade initiative was first espoused at a WTO ministerial-level meeting held in Hong Kong in 2005 to give financial aid - via multilateral mechanisms such as the WTO and the World Bank - to help developing or least-developed countries expand business opportunities and trade prospects.

Aid for Trade has gradually become the mainstay of official development aid (ODA) programs worldwide in recent years, and the Aid for Trade programs that Taiwan has launched have also been incorporated into the ODA system as a core aid strategy, Chen added.