18 March 2014 - Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario today thanked Ireland for its commitment to continue support for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda and invited Ireland to participate actively in the rehabilitation and recovery program in areas devastated by the typhoon.
Secretary del Rosario conveyed this message to the Honorable Joe Costello TD, Minister of State for Trade and Development of Ireland, who is visiting the country from March 18 to 21, primarily to personally monitor the progress of implementation of Irish Aid support to victims of Yolanda. He will fly to Tacloban on March 19. Minister Costello is also here to look into investment potentials and promote robust economic partnership between the Philippines and Ireland.
Secretary del Rosario informed Minister Costello that the Philippines has set up a Multi-donor Trust Fund managed by a Board of Trustees composed of representatives of private companies engaged in the rehabilitation and recovery of typhoon-affected areas.
Irish Aid, the overseas development program of Ireland, airlifted around 150 tons of essential supplies and relief goods worth US$1.1 million to victims of typhoon Yolanda. Irish assistance to Yolanda victims, which had reached US$3.48 million as of 22 November 2013, was channeled largely through its non-governmental organization (NGO) partners, such as Christian Aid, Goal, Oxfam, Medecins San Frontieres, Plan Ireland, Trocaire and World Vision. Minister Costello said that Ireland would be keen to partner with the Philippines in the rehabilitation phase just as they were committed to assisting during the humanitarian phase of the disaster.
Ireland also accepted Secretary del Rosario’s invitation to participate in the Philippine-hosted Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Manila Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management to be held on June 4-6, 2014. This Conference is one of the Philippines’ initiatives to share best practices and lessons learned from its numerous experiences in disaster management.
The Irish delegation expressed interest in looking into potential business opportunities in various sectors particularly agriculture, business process outsourcing, pharmaceuticals and renewable energy. END