The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday unveiled interministerial programs to train and recruit foreign workers with critical skills to enhance national economic competitiveness.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) approved the measures following a ministers’ meeting on implementing President William Lai’s (賴清德) Taiwan Global Pathfinders Initiative, the foreign ministry said in a news release.
The measures are designed to meet demand from Taiwanese enterprises for globalized talent and to alleviate the effects of an aging domestic workforce, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via CNA
The ministries are to cooperate on increasing the nation’s scholarship programs for international students, encourage foreign students to enroll in Taiwanese universities through diplomatic means, and support the economic development of the nation’s allies and partners, it said.
The initiative would operate alongside the foreign ministry’s integrated diplomacy strategy, which aims to boost diplomatic ties by sharing the lessons of Taiwan’s economic development with friendly governments, it said.
The ministries are to establish education-training-employment pipelines through online-based classrooms, cooperative education and scholarships in friendly nations, the news release said.
The policies would help allies develop education and industry, facilitate the exchange of knowledge and technology, and train a competitive and effective workforce, it said.
The government would increase the nation’s competitiveness and international leadership with educational and developmental programs that help its allies and partners, it said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would facilitate a program integration of Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing industry with the package and assembly sector based in the Philippines to forge an economic corridor, the release cited Lin as saying.
For example, the ministry would facilitate a program for Taiwan to train workers in the northern Luzon region for the chip packaging and assembly sector, Lin said.
The program would create mutually beneficial partnerships for Taiwanese enterprises in the Philippines and their host nation’s economic development, he said.
The ministry is also committed to creating education programs to train tourism and hospitality workers in Belize, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Taiwan’s Caribbean diplomatic allies, he said.
The programs would be a mix of online-based instruction and in-person classes, he said.
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