U.K., Taiwan democracy foundations promote 'smart parliament' scheme

Taipei, March 13 (CNA) The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) and the U.K.'s Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) issued a joint statement on Thursday promoting "smart parliament" initiatives.

At a signing ceremony in Taipei, WFD board member Duncan Hames said the statement outlines a mutual commitment to developing "safety, multistakeholder participation, artificial intelligence, responsiveness and transparency."

"We hope that our cooperation will help foster democratic values, practices and wider partnerships among our democracies," Hames said.

"Especially in this era of rapid technological advancement, we aim to pool our resources and knowledge from parliaments around the world to explore together how we can utilize digital tools to enhance democratic procedures," he added.

Hames said that the TFD and WFD, both supported by their respective parliaments, were like sister organizations.

Noting that 47 of Taiwan's 113 parliamentarians are female, TFD Chairperson and Legislative Yuan Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) said this reflected not only democratic achievements but also progress on gender equality.

Han added that Taiwan looked forward to making friends with people worldwide to promote democracy.

The joint statement was signed by WFD CEO Anthony Smith and TFD President Liao Da-chi (廖達琪).

The WFD is a U.K. nondepartmental public body set up to support democratic institutions overseas. Established in 1992, it receives funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The TFD is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization headquartered in Taipei that receives funding from Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote democracy internationally.