The 2024 New Southbound Policy Elite Study Program kicked off Sept. 13 in Taipei City, underscoring the government’s commitment to strengthening mutual understanding and boosting talent exchanges with target countries.
Organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the program is providing 105 participants from 12 NSP target countries with a deeper understanding of climate change governance, cross-strait and regional relations, public health and medical care, and semiconductor technology, as well as sustainable agriculture and food security in Taiwan. They will study at National Taipei University of Technology and Taipei Medical University in the capital, National Chung Hsing University in the central city of Taichung, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology in the southern Taiwan county and National Quemoy University in Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen County.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, MOFA Minister Lin Chia-lung said that the program has benefited 117 young adults from NSP countries since its inception in 2022. To ensure continued results, the government invited NCHU to launch the climate change governance curriculum this year and increased the number of scholarships, recruiting participants from Australia, Cambodia, Nepal and New Zealand for the first time, he added.
Since implementing the NSP in 2016, Taiwan has successfully diversified its trade and enhanced people-to-people connections with target countries, as evidenced by students from such countries comprising over 60 percent of Taiwan’s international student body, Lin said. Dozens of leaders from like-minded partners have voiced support for Taiwan through the Yushan Forum, which Taiwan established to evaluate NSP annual achievements and promote multifaceted partnerships with Indo-Pacific countries, he added.
The minister went on to pledge that the MOFA will continue to promote integrated diplomacy, including the concepts of allied, economic and values-based diplomacy, while strengthening the economic resilience of regional democracies by leveraging the country’s strengths in digital technology.
According to the MOFA, the opening ceremony was additionally attended by officials and staff from the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations, Taipei-based think tank Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation and the representative offices of India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam in Taiwan.
A key plank in the government’s national development strategy, the NSP seeks to deepen Taiwan’s agricultural, business, cultural, education, tourism and trade ties with the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states, six South Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand. (YCH-E)
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