November 22, 2022
No. 348
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv, the United States Embassy in Israel, and the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center at Tel Aviv University (ICRC) coorganized an international workshop in Israel under the Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF) on November 21. The 2022 GCTF Workshop on Opportunities and Outlooks under the Trend of Digital Economy was organized in a hybrid format for in-person and virtual participation. It was the first overseas GCTF event to be held in the Middle East.
The purpose of the workshop was to explore challenges and economic transformations in the digital era. Taiwan, the United States, and Israel shared their development experiences and industrial strengths within the field of the digital economy. Discussion focused on digital solutions and supply chain resilience. The opening of the workshop was jointly presided over by Abby Ya-ping Lee, Representative of Taiwan to Israel; Stephanie Hallett, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Israel; and Gili Drob-Hiestein, Executive Director of the ICRC. Keynote speeches were delivered by Lin Jun-shu, Deputy Director General of the Administration for Digital Industries, Ministry of Digital Affairs; Mark Cullinane, Director of the Bilateral and Regional Affairs Office, Cyberspace and Digital Policy Bureau, US Department of State; and Major General (retired) Isaac Ben-Israel, Director of the ICRC. Chen Jen-ran, Ambassador-at-large and Chairperson of the Digital Transformation Association; Hu Jwu-sheng, Senior Vice President of the Industrial Technology Research Institute; and Lin Ying-dar, Professor at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, served as speakers. Scholars and experts from Israel’s science and technology, industrial, and academic and research institutions participated in the presentations and discussions. Exchanges were lively and productive.
The GCTF was jointly established by Taiwan and the United States in 2015. In the seven years since, the GCTF has held 55 international workshops in Taiwan and overseas on a dozen new issues and challenges. More than 6,000 officials, experts, and civil society representatives from over 100 countries have attended GCTF training programs, either in person or online. As the number of participants has continued to increase, the issues and domains covered have also expanded in scope. All this indicates that the GCTF is a highly successful platform that allows like-minded countries to exchange experiences on important topics and assist developing countries in building and fostering the capacity to take on challenges. The official GCTF partners—Taiwan, the United States, Japan, and Australia—and other like-minded countries will continue to work through the GCTF to contribute to major issues facing the international community.