APO COE on GP

Introduction to the Asian Productivity Organization (APO)

The Asian Productivity Organization (APO) is a non-profit and non-political international organization, consisting of 20 member countries governments in the Asian region.  It was established for the purpose of promoting research exchange and cooperation on domestic productivity between governments and academia of the various member countries, providing service in research and development, technical discussion, and management, in order to promote each member state's socio-economic prosperity.

The APO was established on May 11th, 1961, and its Secretariat is located in Tokyo, Japan. Taiwan is one of the organization's founding members.  There are currently 20 member countries, namely: Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Republic of China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. Each APO member countries are represented in the organization through its National Productivity Organization (NPO).  The China Productivity Center (CPC) is appointed by the ROC government to implement the APO's various project activities and work jointly on promoting the improvement of Asian productivity.

Aims and Objectives of the APO COE on GP

Due to the advantages in the development of green and sustainable competitiveness by the Republic of China (ROC), the APO approved the establishment of a “Center of Excellence on Green Productivity” (APO COE on GP).  This was the first time, in over half a century since the ROC joined the APO, that we have won this international platform project for green productivity, thus this is highly significant.

The APO COE GP receives resources from the APO, as well as inter-agency policy support and resource injection from our government, and it brings together the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Council of Agriculture (COA) and Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), and the MOEA's Science and Technology Advisory Office, Bureau of Energy, Bureau of Foreign Trade, and so forth, in an international platform planned and built by the MOEA's Industrial Development Bureau (IDB), in order to benefit the development of green business opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.

Through the APO Secretariat, the APO COE on GP works in close cooperation with member countries, taking Taiwan's advantages in green technologies: recycling, green energy, green factories, and ecological agriculture, and so on, and promoting them to various member states by means of summit meetings among industrial, governmental, and academic research leaders, domestic and foreign expert training seminars, benchmarking visit exchanges, the compilation of technical manuals and achievement journals, the “Green Business Excellence Awards” award project, as well as promotional work both at home and abroad.  Consensus between leaders is therefore enhanced, assisting further multilateral and bilateral cooperation between member countries, thus improve the international visibility of Taiwan's industry, achieving significant results economically and diplomatically.

Since this international platform of the APO COE on GP has been launched, close exchange and collaboration with member states has continued, providing industrial technical services, and effective infusion, and also winning positive responses from the APO Secretariat and APO member countries.  It's expected that we will continue to play a key role as a kinetic energizer for green promotion, and lead member countries to work together on mapping out the vision for future development.