Congratulatory Speech

Moon Hee Lee, Director General, International Cooperation and Information Technology Bureau, Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, Korea


Honorable Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I sincerely congratulate you on holding the first International APEC Community Builders Conference for Shared Prosperity. Korean and Foreign APEC Learning Community Builders, Mr. Joseph Doraisamy, Program Director for HRD Working Group of APEC Secretariat, Dr. Michael Molenda, Editor of Asia Pacific Cybereducation Journal, and all invited guests in the related field from national and international institutions, I thank you for your gracious participation in this wonderful event today.

Also, I give my deepest thanks to Dr. YoungHwan Kim, Chair and Executive Director of the Institute of APEC Cyber Education and his staff for their hard work and precious efforts to have developed the Consortium for APEC Cyber Education Cooperation and to have prepared for hosting today’s conference.

This will be an unforgettable moment for those who have been putting great efforts in the APEC Cyber Education project as you are about to see the sweetest fruit of your efforts: the organization of APEC Learning Community Builders for Shared Prosperity which aims at building an APEC Learning Community based on their achievements for the past three years. This project was initiated by the Former President Mr. Kim Dae Joong at Seoul Forum in March, 2000.

As you may know, APEC Cyber Education Cooperation Project has been driven by the consensus that it is an inevitable and urgent mission to reduce the digital divide for the shared prosperity among member economies within the APEC, in a knowledge-based economy of today where knowledge and information is the key source of wealth and welfare. APEC Cyber Education Cooperation Project, initiated by Korean government and immediately joined by seven more economies, namely China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China, Malaysia, New Zealand, and the U.S., has developed into an international collaboration project, both nominally and virtually, contributing to the “shared prosperity” of the APEC members. This splendid development was highly acknowledged at the Leader’s Meeting in Shanghai, China in 2001.
The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development of Korea expects the year 2004 to be a new epoch for the APEC Cyber Education Cooperation. For this, we will endeavor to build an “APEC Learning Community for Shared Prosperity”, based on the knowledge and experience accumulated from operating APEC Cyber Education Network and International Internet Volunteer activities. In other words, we will pursue a participant-oriented project where “project participants such as teachers and students” can become the actual core subject of international cooperation, rather than a program-by program-project of the past.

In order to fulfill this expectation, the Korean Ministry of Education has selected APEC Learning Community Builders in member economies of APEC since the second half of the year 2003. As of December 2003, one hundred and seventy (170) ALCoB in 11 economies are selected and have been engaged in exchanges of knowledge and information, skills and experience in using ICT in education through the ALCoB homepage and on-line community activities. From 2003, ALCoB take part in the Webzine Publication and International Internet Volunteering and lay a firm foundation for the APEC Learning Community. We, at the Ministry of Education, will continue to support ALCoB so that you can actively participate in international collaboration.

believe that this three day conference will encourage you to set your own goals and directions of activities for 2004 APEC Cyber Education Cooperation. I hope you will have an opportunity to talk heart-to-heart with each other beyond the gap in thoughts and viewpoints as well as your personal backgrounds such as mother land, culture and language at this conference. A frequent face-to-face meeting like today will take us even closer to the realization of APEC Learning Community for Shared Prosperity.

Once again, I extend my hearty thanks to all the participants and wish you an wonderful opportunity, not only for discussing the collaboration plans for the development of APEC Cyber Education but for better understanding each other and building up friendship.

Thank you!