New Southbound Policy Task Force appointed

Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP) aims to enhance cooperation and exchanges between Taiwan and 18 countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australasia. WorldVeg applauds this international outreach initiative. To actively contribute to the effort, WorldVeg has established an NSP Task Force to serve as a bridge between Taiwan and NSP countries. The Task Force will accelerate technological innovation for sustainable vegetable sector development by facilitating the introduction, adaptation, and adoption of Taiwan’s horticultural technologies and know‐how, as well as welcoming students and scientists from the NSP countries to Taiwan to work with WorldVeg and Taiwan partners.

Task Force members include Mandy Lin (Chair; Associate Specialist, Technology Dissemination), Sophia Chan (Associate Specialist, Virology), and Kitty Hong (Management Assistant). George Kuo, former Director of International Cooperation for the Center, will assist as a resource person for the Task Force.

The NSP Task Force will facilitate hosting of students and visiting scientists from NSP countries at WorldVeg HQ, the Center’s regional offices in India and Thailand, and Taiwan Vegetable Innovation Consortium partners (Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute [TARI], National Taiwan University [NTU], National Chung Hsing University [NCHU], Academia Sinica), and foster knowledge exchange on vegetable technology and know‐how between Taiwan and NSP countries. The Task Force will develop a set of indicators WorldVeg will use every year to show its contribution to the NSP.