On June 1, 2015, Taiwan and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF)—a platform to utilize Taiwan’s strengths and expertise to address global issues of mutual concern. The initiative assists countries in the Indo-Pacific for their capacity building efforts through training programs for officials and experts, while also enhancing Taiwan’s multilateral cooperation throughout the region. The GCTF has allowed Taiwan to build up its partnerships with regional countries and further expand its international presence.
Over the past nine years, the GCTF has held 78 international workshops on such topics as public health, law enforcement cooperation, women’s empowerment, energy efficiency, e-commerce, cybersecurity, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief (HA/DR), and media literacy. Over 9,200 government officials, experts, and civil society representatives from 131 countries have participated in these events. Japan became a full partner to this framework in 2019, and has joined Taiwan and the United States in cohosting all GCTF workshops held since then. More like-minded countries such as Sweden, Australia, Guatemala, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, Israel, the EU, Slovakia, St. Lucia, and Finland have joined us to cohost GCTF workshops, and even more, Australia and Canada announced to become a full partner on October 27, 2021 and August 2, 2024 respectively. The GCTF International Austronesian Languages Revitalization Forum held in Palau in September 2019 was the first GCTF event to take place outside of Taiwan. While the first online workshop for Latin America under the GCTF took place in September 2020, the first GCTF-affiliated franchise workshop was held in Czech Republic in September 2021. As of the end of March 2024, GCTF has organized 17 overseas events in 14 countries worldwide. This expansion solidifies its role as a pivotal platform facilitating the exchange of experiences and aiding in essential capacity-building efforts among like-minded nations.
The full partners (currently Taiwan, the United States, Japan, Australia, and Canada) regularly hold GCTF Joint Committee meetings to review events of the year and decide on prospective areas of cooperation for the coming year. We welcome more like-minded countries to participate in the GCTF and further expand cooperation under it.