Pacific Island trainees in a leadership program gathered in Taipei on Monday to begin a six-week segment in Taiwan.
“Your upcoming courses and visits in Taiwan have been designed to give you insight and experience that will be useful in the course of your careers,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) said at the opening ceremony of the Pacific Islands Leadership Program (PILP).
Thirteen participants from eight Pacific Island nations — Fiji, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu and Vanuatu — are to exchange views with local officials, academics, businesspeople and representatives of non-governmental organizations, Hsu said.
Participants are to learn about Taiwan’s Austronesian heritage, which Hsu said is a bridge connecting Taiwan with the Pacific Island community.
The annual program, established in 2013 by a grant from the Taiwanese government in cooperation with the East-West Center, a US-based institution for public diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific region, seeks to improve the skills of leaders in the Pacific.
Over the past six years, the project has trained 144 future leaders from across the Pacific, Hsu said.
“In the face of climate change, natural disasters, social unrest, economic disputes, energy shortages, security threats and other common challenges, the PILP stands as a prime example of what Taiwan, the US and Pacific Island nations can achieve when we all work together,” Hsu said.
Palauan Ambassador to Taiwan Dilmei Louisa Olkeriil encouraged the participants to learn as much as they could while in Taiwan, especially regarding the medical and healthcare systems, which she said “we should all learn from.”
East-West Center senior manager Christina Monroe thanked for Taiwan sharing its experience with the Pacific Island nations, while American Institute in Taiwan Political Section Chief Bradley Parker lauded Taiwan for responsibly contributing to the region, despite China’s continued suppression.
This year’s program began on Sept. 30 with a month of experiential learning exercises at the East-West Center in Hawaii, before moving to Taiwan for field study and a leadership retreat, the East-West Center said.
The curriculum includes topics such as applied leadership skills, scenario planning, social entrepreneurship and risk analysis, the center said.
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