Opening and Welcome Remarks at
APEC GIFTS A+: Promoting Gender Inclusion in Smart Agriculture, Harnessing Inclusive Opportunities, Embracing the Digital Future in Smart Agriculture
Deputy Minister Li, Deputy Director General Sun, Chair Tamarua, Chair Daink, Chair Tsai, distinguished guests from APEC economies, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.
On behalf of Chinese Taipei, I would like to extend our sincerest welcome to everyone for attending this seminar on “Promoting Gender Inclusion in Smart Agriculture, Harnessing Inclusive Opportunities, Embracing the Digital Future in Smart Agriculture”.
As Chairperson of National Communications Commission, and as the Head of Chinese Taipei Delegation for 2018 APEC Women and the Economy Forum, I have observed that the number of Asia-pacific women entering ICT industry has increased significantly over the past decade. Chinese Taipei is no exception.
In fact, for years now Chinese Taipei has been making significant progress in implementing legislation, mechanisms and programs safeguarding women’s rights across all spheres of life, such as education, finance, employment and agriculture. According to our latest assessment based on the U.N. Development Program’s 2016 Gender Inequality Index, Chinese Taipei ranked ninth worldwide and topped Asia in addressing challenges facing women.
Apart from that, we have also been promoting gender inclusion in the digital economy. We recognize that digitalization and developments in technology can empower women to gain greater access to markets and contribute significantly to a prosperous digital economy in the APEC region. In particular, women in STEM can serve as a powerful means to prevent the gap between genders becoming wider in the digital economy, and to help women fully participate in this new era. This is a new and still evolving area that we believe member economies can best learn from one another through sharing of best practices and policy strategies.
It is worth noting that although women comprise of around 49.5% of the agricultural labor force in Eastern and South Eastern Asia, they are underperforming in the agricultural sector and agricultural economical participation. In response, we have proposed the cross-fora “APEC GIFT A+ project”, emphasizing gender inclusion in smart agriculture and allowing us the opportunity to discuss how to advance women’s participation in harnessing sustainable and inclusive economic growth of APEC region. The project has gained notable attention from the APEC PPWE and has already received APEC funding.
With increasing engagement of women, more and more are gaining footholds in the traditionally male-dominated workplace. Now, we hope this trend can also be extended to the field of agriculture. With that in mind, the aim of this seminar is to integrate aspects of gender inclusion into the development of agriculture science, technology, facilities and the environment, as well as promote women’s participation in innovative green economies by means of various business models or policies.
In concluding, let me reiterate my warm welcome to you and I sincerely wish this seminar a great success, and hope that you will have a fruitful and enjoyable stay in Taipei. It is my belief that with your cooperation we can develop useful and effective gender-inclusiveness strategies for the economic, social and environment developments in the Asia-pacific region. Thank you very much!
