

14
M
ajor cooperative partners of
Taiwan in Central and South
Ame r i ca i nc l ude Gua t ema l a ,
El Salvador, Belize, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, and
Ecuador. This region’s economic
growth depends on the export of
their abundant natural resources
to create production capacity, but
overexploitation has exacerbated
the destruction of the natural
environment, and export prices are
subject to world market fluctuations.
As a result, economic growth of the
countries in the region has slowed
down in recent years, and the
disparities between urban and rural
development, and between rich and
poor, keep widening.
In view of this, the TaiwanICDF’s
strategies for cooperation and
development in this region focus
on promoting agricultural diversity,
nur turing talents, developing
information and communications
technology (ICT), and environmental
protection. To enhance agricultural
production and output value of
partner countries, we used a three-
way approach: “build and reinforce
production chains,” “develop
key seed l i ng t echno l og i es , ”
and implement “dynamic pest
and disease prevention control
measures.” In terms of education, we
placed our focus on the development
of technical and management-level
human resources required for the
countries’ development. In addition
to assisting in building the capacity
of human resources in various fields
through a variety of programs, we
also provide financing instruments
to help students from par tner
countries access student loans to
encourage professional learning
and skills enhancement. In ICT, we
offer partner countries guidance on
acquiring international standards
for information security (ISO 27001)
to meet the requirements of data
security management, as well as help
them to enhance the efficiency of
e-government through ICT systems.
In environmental protection, we
focus on assisting partner countries
in strengthening their abilities in
environmental monitoring and land
use and change, so as to achieve
our work in forest conservation,
management of land use and
change, and emergency disaster
prevention and control.
Granada, the ancient capital of Nicaragua.
Central and South America