TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan on Tuesday (Sept. 27) launched the Global Cooperation and Training Framework Workshop on the Challenges and Strategies for the Industrialization of Smart Agriculture with the representative offices of the U.S., Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, and Israel.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Food and Fertilizer Technology Center for the Asian and Pacific Region, and Agricultural Technology Research Institute were also involved in the event's planning. The workshop incorporated both physical and virtual sessions and included more than 50 domestic industrial, government, and academic experts, as well as nearly 300 scholars from 40 countries, per a MOFA press release.

Douglas Yu-tien Hsu (徐佑典), director-general of MOFA’s North American Affairs; Jeremy Cornforth, deputy director of AIT; Guido Tielman, representative of the Netherlands Office Taipei; Michael Googan, deputy representative of the Australian Office Taipei; Takashi Hattori, deputy representative of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association; and Bikenibeu Paeniu, Tuvalu ambassador to Taiwan all attended the event.

This is the first time the GCTF has held a workshop in Taiwan regarding smart agriculture. Over the course of the 2-day workshop, participants will focus on the application of information and communication technology and digital innovation technology in smart agriculture, and share experiences and challenges of smart agriculture industrialization in various countries, MOFA said. There are also plans to launch a GCTF smart agriculture alliance to promote partnerships through information exchange and to formulate guidelines for the international application of smart agricultural technology, the ministry added.

GCTF, which was established in 2015 by Taiwan and the U.S., serves as a platform for Taiwan to share its expertise and allows participants to learn what Taiwan has to offer and strengthen connections between experts to address issues of mutual concern.