Taiwan, US team up to train Pacific Island leaders

Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New Zealand

Taiwan, US team up to train Pacific Island leaders

Taiwan and U.S. have agreed to cooperate in the Pacific Islands Leadership Partnership, providing training for 125 potential young leaders, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sept. 1.

Consensus on the plan was reached during the 2012 Pacific Islands Forum held Aug. 28-31 in the Cook Islands, the MOFA said.

“This collaboration fully highlights the close ties between Taiwan and the U.S. and is very meaningful in deepening the bilateral partnership,” MOFA noted. “We hope the two sides can further bolster substantive relations through this program.”

The MOFA said the project, to be initiated in the summer of 2013, will be implemented through a memorandum of understanding inked between its Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs and U.S. think tank the East-West Center.

“Over the next five years, mid- and high-level government officials or senior nongovernmental personnel from the region will undergo intensive leadership training courses to help strengthen their countries’ political, economic and social development.”

Courses will last three months, with two-thirds of the training taking place at the East-West Center in Hawaii and the rest in Taiwan, the MOFA added. “Classes in Taiwan will be planned by the IDIA, focusing on our political, military, economic and social circumstances as well as relevant regional safety and cooperation issues. Details will continue to be negotiated with the U.S.”

The program originated from a visit to Taiwan last December by Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. It marks the first concrete cooperation on international development between the two sides, the MOFA said.

ENDS

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