Taiwan will have helped establish 41 digital opportunity centers in seven developing nations by the end of this year under an APEC initiative to bridge the digital divide, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
From August 2004 until the middle of last month, 34 such centers had been set up in Chile, Indonesia, Peru, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and Thailand, with more than 51,000 information and communications technology professionals in these countries trained through the program, the ministry’s Bureau of Foreign Trade said.
The APEC Digital Opportunity Center (ADOC) initiative was put forth by Taiwan in 2003 during an annual informal APEC leadership summit held in Bangkok, Thailand.
The goal was to use Taiwan’s edge in information technology and digital experience to assist developing APEC member states in upgrading their information technology capabilities.
Through the project, Taiwan also hopes to enhance its global visibility, strengthen its friendship with other APEC member states and expand business opportunities, the bureau said.
In preparation for the conclusion of the first phase of the ADOC initiative at the end of this year, senior officials and business leaders from Taiwan will meet with their counterparts from other APEC member states during ADOC Week 2008, set for Sept. 29 to Oct. 4 in Taipei to discuss issues concerning the promotion of the second phase of the initiative.
The proposal to launch a second phase to the ADOC initiative was raised during last year’s informal APEC leadership summit in Sydney, Australia by Stan Shih (施振榮), founder of computer vendor Acer Inc (宏碁), who attended the meeting as a special envoy of then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
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