ADOC Opens New Digital e-Learning Centers in Temuco and Padres Las Casas, Chile

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APECⁱ) Digital Opportunity Center (ADOCⁱ) is opening two e-Learning Centers in Temuco Province on May 27th, 2008. These centers are the fruits of the cooperative effort between the Municipalities of Temuco and Padres Las Casas, Chile and the ADOC Secretariat of Chinese Taipei.

In 2006, ADOC established its Partner Office and Digital Opportunity Center at the Chilean Association of Information Technologies (ACTI) and Federation of Chilean Industry (SOFOFA) and the Tele-Centers in the Municipalities of Valparaiso and Peñalolen. Based on this successful experience, ADOC opened an e-Commerce Center the following year in Servicio de Cooperación Téchica (SERCOTEC). The new e-Learning Centers in 2008 will be ADOC's fifth and sixth centers in Chile.

In 2000, at the APEC Leader's Summit in Brunei, the Brunei Goals were established. These called for APEC economies to enable citizens in every community to have either individual or community access to the Internetⁱ by 2010 and thereby address the "digital divide" issue, a problem brought about by the uneven distribution of knowledge and access to information and communication technology (ICT). To assist in reaching this goal, Chinese Taipei proposed ADOC, an ambitious four-year project. APEC Leaders approved this proposal and incorporated it in the APEC Leaders' Statement of 2004.

Chinese Taipei has long established itself as one of the worldwide leaders in ICT, and by spearheading the ADOC program; it hopes to leverage its experiences and expertise in ICT and to work with private and public sectors within APEC member economies in order to fulfill the Brunei Goals.

Each of the new ADOC e-Learning Centers will have state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, including 12 PCs, a projector, multifunctional fax machine, scanner, digital camera, and printer. The ADOC team plans to train over 450 children and 450 women in 2008. Their training courses will be designed to fit local demand, and most will be related to digital alphabetization topics.

In the past two years, the ADOC Center in Santiago, in cooperation with ACTI and SOFOFA, has trained around 3,000 persons. Thus SOFOFA and ACTI have been working hard with the government and with ADOC to bridge the digital divide and ensuring that everyone in Chile enjoys the benefits of a digital economy.

Besides Chile, the other APEC member economies that are participating in the ADOC program are Indonesia, Peru, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. For additional information, please contact Mr. Lister Lin, the representative of the ADOC Secretariat in Santiago.