The Executive Yuan will convene the 2014 APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Conference: Utilizing ICTs (Information and Communications Technologies) to Empower Women Entrepreneurs this October 28 and the APEC Cross Cutting Issues and Second Public-Private Partnership Network Meeting on October 29. The two-day event will be held at National Taiwan University Hospital's International Convention Center.
The ROC (Taiwan) will present the first-year research results for its APEC-subsidized Multi-Year Project (MYP) "Innovation for Women and Economic Development: Facilitating Women's Livelihood Development and Resilience with ICTs."
The sharing and exchanges by various nations over these two days are expected to strengthen private and public sectors' liaison networks in the Asia-Pacific area. Other aims are to proactively respond to APEC's advocacy of the rise of women's economic power and to take further steps to realize inclusive economic growth opportunities worldwide.
The Executive Yuan stated that this event is co-hosted by the ROC and next year's APEC host nation, the Philippines, and is organized by the ROC's Foundation for Women's Rights Promotion and Development. ROC Minister without Portfolio Feng Yen will preside over the opening ceremony of the first day conference, while Hwang Wang-hsiang, deputy minister of the ROC's National Development Council, and Nora K. Terrado, undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines, will deliver keynote speeches.
The ROC's collaborative partners in the MYP will share their experiences on their case studies. The speakers include Olga Pizarro Stiepovic, professor of the School of Business of Del Desarrollo University in Chile; Ms. Kio Chung Kim, president of the Global Women's ICT Network of South Korea; Chiqui Escareal-Go, president, training master and senior consultant of Mansmith and Fielders, Inc. of the Philippines; and Lorna Wright, director of the Center of Global Enterprise of York University of Canada.
Kim and Wright have been major promoters of developing Taiwan's use of ICT to enhance women's business management abilities, and they both served as consultants for the Women Up program of the Taiwan Digital Phoenix Association.
The Public-Private Partnership Network Meeting will bring together three APEC forums—the Policy Partnership on Women and Economy, Human Resources Development-Capacity Building Network, and APEC Business Advisory Council—to stimulate mutual support for and pluralistic growth of women's economic leadership, capacity building, applications of science and technology, and innovation of women in Asia-Pacific economies.
Public and private sector representatives from nations like the U.S., Japan, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam will share the important relevant initiatives within their own economies. They will also exchange opinions with representatives of the ROC's public and private sectors, such as members of the Department of Gender Equality, the Ministry of Labor's Workforce Development Agency, and VIA Technologies, Inc.
According to the Executive Yuan, 10 economies (including the ROC) are participating in this event, and about 180 representatives from the public and private sectors will attend.
The exchanges can serve as references for ROC ministries' and agencies' promotion of economic participation by women, and the conclusions reached will serve as work guidelines for the second stage of the nation's MYP. The nation's representatives will report the results of this conference at next year's APEC Women and the Economy Forum.