A government-funded program enabling young people from Taiwan's diplomatic allies to participate in cultural exchanges in Taiwan and vice versa is to continue for a second year next year, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said today.
The Taiwan Global Pathfinders Initiative, introduced earlier this year, was initially designed to offer more than 800 opportunities for Taiwanese aged 15 to 30 to participate in short-term overseas programs to cultivate global connections and exchanges for young Taiwanese.
The program later expanded into two-way exchanges, with young people from the country's 12 diplomatic allies invited to visit Taiwan for short-term cultural and educational experiences, according to MOFA Department of Policy Planning head Ke Liang-ruey (柯良叡).
Photo courtesy of the World Taiwan Foundation
A total of 19 youths from 11 of Taiwan's formal diplomatic allies joined the inaugural inbound program in July.
A second group of 23 youths from six of Taiwan's allies in the Caribbean and Latin America region are currently in Taiwan in a month-long program, he said during a MOFA regular news briefing.
The 23 are divided into two groups: one English-language program under the theme of "sustainable tourism" and another Spanish-language program under the theme of "smart agriculture," he said.
Meanwhile, the outbound program for Taiwanese youths traveling overseas to friendly countries and Taiwan's allies has recently begun taking applications for the initiative next year, he said.
In next year, the program would enable 361 selected Taiwanese aged 18-30 to travel to Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Romania and three diplomatic allies — Belize, Paraguay and Guatemala — for a month or months-long internship programs.
The program's travel would span the fields of diplomacy, security, environmental protection, science and technology, the arts, medicine and agriculture.
Those who are interested are advised to log into the following website at https://twpathfinder.org/overview1830 to apply before the Dec. 31 deadline.
_________________________________________________________________
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS