by FFE PH News Staff

Officials of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in the Philippines have just announced that Norwegian Foreign Affairs minister Børge Brende will be in the country on an official visit from 7 to 9 January.

FAO said the minister will be here to get a firsthand look of the rehabilitation efforts and to meet with UN representatives. Rajendra Aryal, FAO acting representative in the Philippines said ‘Brende will go to Tacloban on 8 January.

‘We’d like him to meet some of the farmer beneficiaries and see the paddies that were planted to Norway-donated rice seeds.’

Norway is one of the first responders to give aid to the Philippines after super typhoon Yolanda hit the Visayas region on 8 November 2013. Less than two weeks after the storm passed, the Norwegian parliament pledged a total of Php1.45b in short-term relief and long-term rehabilitation.

On top of the government’s aid, Norwegian NGOs also raised Php180m through a charity event in November while the Filipino community in Norway raised Php178m in a separate event in December.

In a statement issued after the 8 November, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said that Norway wanted ‘to help alleviate the suffering that children, women and men are now undergoing in the affected areas in the Philippines.’