The announcement was made by Chinese personnel officials and

representatives from multinational corporations and elite

universities at a press conference in Beijing, Friday's China

Daily reported.

The program, initiated by the Chinese government, with 11 APEC members as co-sponsors, aims to promote human capacity building and strengthening economic and technological cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

To narrow the digital divide among APEC's 21 members, the

program plans to offer free online training to 1,500 senior IT

professionals for its member economies, particularly the

developing ones, in the next three years.

On the other hand, the program is expected to build a virtual

classroom to support e-learning for the masses, and a cyber forum to encourage involvement of all stakeholders in APEC economies.

All preparations, headed by China's Ministry of Personnel (MOP), has ensured the implementation of the training plans, China Daily quoted MOP's Vice-Minister Hou Jianliang as saying.

The APEC human capacity building platform and the portal

website at www.apechcb.org.cn have been developed and opened by

China with the support of Tsinghua Tongfang Co. Ltd. and China

Training Network, the report said.

Training and certifications on CCNA, CCNP, SCJP and OCP, the

four most authoritative training courses for internationally

recognized professional certifications in the IT sector, have been selected for the 1,500 IT professionals, it said.

Technological support by education and training institutions,

including Tsinghua University, University of South California,

Kyoto University and China Training Network, is also in place, the daily reported.

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2001)