Taiwan's delegation to the 2018 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Women and the Economy Forum (WEF) raised the nation's global profile by highlighting its achievements in advancing women's economic development in the Asia-Pacific region, the Executive Yuan Department of Gender Equality said Friday.
The forum, held September 3-8 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, centered on the theme "Seizing Opportunities for Women and Girls to Advance in the Digital Age." During the Second Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE) meeting, Taiwan's delegation submitted the project APEC GIFTS A+ (Gendered Innovation for Technology and Science): Promoting Gender Inclusion in Smart Agriculture, and successfully pushed for the inclusion of Taiwan's initiatives into the PPWE Strategic Plan and the 2018 WEF Statement.
It was also announced during the PPWE that two of the three winners among the 17 projects that had applied for funding from the APEC Women and the Economy Sub-fund were Taiwan-proposed initiatives: an exhibition on women's opportunities in small and medium-sized enterprises, and a project to promote women's development in the energy sector.
Taiwan's delegation, led by National Communications Commission Chairperson Chan Ting-i, further held bilateral meetings with representatives from the United States, Chile and the Philippines, reaching agreements to collaborate on numerous initiatives and strengthen bilateral cooperative ties. Taiwan promoted its APEC GIFTS A+ initiative in sideline meetings with several member economies, inviting representatives to Taipei this October for a forum to promote the use of gendered innovation, harness inclusive opportunities, and embrace the digital future. Several high-ranking officials from other member economies have already committed to attending.