Dr. Chung-Hsing Chou, Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Myanmar (TECO), visits “Eden Myanmar” Foundation, a Yangon-based INGO, to attend ceremony for the donation of agricultural dehydration system to the foundation by TECO on 25 January.

The foundation’s aim is to help victims of human trafficking since it was established in 2014. Over the past decade, there have been countless rescuees, including Taiwanese nationals trapped in Myanmar. In addition to providing shelter and psychological counselling to the victims, the foundation also focuses on approach to help them develop livelihood and launches related projects, including vocational training and economic empowerment.

Under the latest project, Microgreens Project, victims of human trafficking are combined with rural farmers and community residents into the cultivation of nutrient-rich crops such as alfalfa sprouts and sunflower seeds, and the harvest of those crops would be processed into health improving food and then commercialized. All those efforts are meant to enhance the economic capabilities of victims and community residents, to increase the income of rural farmers and communities and to improve the dietary health of Myanmar people.

On the ceremony, Ms. Lisa Samuelsen, the foundation CEO, thanks for the donation by TECO and points out that the main project revenues are to assist financially or socially disadvantaged populations such as the elderly, pregnant women, and young children. And due to the new equipment, the current production process has been substantially shortened and the production capacity has been tripled. This allows the foundation to recruit more staff for higher production capacity and to benefit more Myanmar people.

Dr. Chou expresses in his speech his gratitude to “Eden Myanmar” for its contribution in assisting victims of human trafficking, and deeply agrees and supports the foundation's related projects. Since Taiwan has reached outstanding achievements in agro-product processing technology and machinery, Dr. Chou hopes that the foundation’s projects could further enhance the benefits of Myanmar people and deepen exchanges and interactions between the people of Taiwan and Myanmar by using Taiwan’s advanced technology in the agricultural category.