President Ma Ying-jeou met with the visiting head of the American aid organization Food For the Poor on Tuesday.

The president praised founder and CEO Robin Mahfood for the group's work, and for being the largest international aid organization in the US.

Ma said that the visit comes at an opportune moment. He said, "I think the time is right because the government is reconsidering its foreign aid policies. We hope to establish contacts with these types of international organizations, and to work together, because they have abundant experience and connections which can help us reach a lot of areas that we can't reach."

The president says that Taiwan already is working with Food for the Poor on several projects, including offering aid to the country of Haiti.

Ma said that typhoons have had an impact on Taiwan's ability to provide rice to Haiti but he said that the government is talking with Food for the Poor about ways to educate the people of Haiti on how to cultivate fish.