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Talent needed to stage APEC meet

Thailand's hosting of this year's APEC summit has led some to pose the question: Does Taiwan have the capacity to host similar large-scale international events?

Members of the Taiwanese delegation said that during the APEC meetings in Bangkok, offered several points of advice that Taiwan could learn from when contemplating future international meets of this nature.

According to APEC organizers, Thailand had started preparing for APEC 2003 in 1999 when its offer to host the meeting was accepted.

Taipei's Representative to Thailand Paul Cheng (鄭博久) said that Thailand's success in hosting the APEC forum was due in part to previous experience in hosting events of this size.

Previous large-scale events hosted by Thailand include the IMF-World Bank meeting in 1992, the first summit of the Asian-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in 1995 and the recent Ottawa Convention which saw officials gather from over 130 countries.

National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Antonio Chiang (江春男) echoed Cheng's remarks.

"Thailand's smooth handling of APEC 2003 was the result of accumulated experience," he said.

Citing examples such as the down-to-the-minute readiness of delegation transport vehicles, Chiang acknowledged the host country's thoughtful preparation and attention paid to organizational aspects of the summit.

"The exactitude and efficiency demonstrated by the organizers is something Taiwan should take careful note of," said Chiang.

"Taiwan has this casual attitude of liking to do things at random and on whim. This kind of arbitrary attitude needs to be looked at," he added.

While admitting that the US might have helped the Thai authorities in training its security forces for the meet, Chiang noted that as many as 10,000 police had been mobilized for the October meetings. Thailand was able to mobilize all necessary personnel and resources to ensure the smooth operation of the event.

To keep foreign media and Bangkok's expatriate community updated on APEC developments, a dedicated TV channel broadcast 24 hour, English-language news.

The TV channel was anchored by Thai English-speaking anchors in addition to a slew of Thai reporters reporting in English.

In view of the amount of Thai English-speaking talent featured in broadcasts, some have wondered whether Taiwan would also be capable of providing such a pool were it to host a similar event.

In this regard, Wu Rong-i (吳榮義), president of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research and an adviser with the Taiwanese delegation, said that he is not concerned about a lack of English-speaking talent in Taiwan.

"Taiwan has many young people with these talents too," he said. "It's just a matter of allowing them to contribute their talents and service [to the country]."

Cheng said that "Taiwan needs to learn how to better market its assets and resources to the international community."

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