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As Chairman of the Committee
on Trade Education, Training and Research for WTCA, Dr. Lee has
initiated the idea of World Trade Center University in order to
provide an opportunity for the individual World Trade Centers and
their 750,000 plus affiliate corporate members to take part in a
successful on-line university degree program in "e-World
Trade". Recognizing the need for better travel service,
pricing and accommodations for the WTCA membership, Dr. Lee is
currently putting closure on a newly developed travel package,
named as WTC Business Tourism, that will address the individual
needs, logistical problems, scheduling and cost concerns of the
more than 300 individual World Trade Centers holding membership in
the World Trade Centers Association. In order to fulfill the
mission of WTCA, "Peace through promoting the Trade", Dr.
Lee has also been working for WTC Corps, WTC Foundation and World Cultural
Assets Exchange Foundation.
Academically,
he is also serving as Foundation Fellow and member of the board of
the Regents, Harris Manchester College,
the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Dr. Lee
came to the World Trade Centers Association in 1993 from the University of California,
San Diego
as a professor doing Post-Doctorate work in International Relations
and specializing in regional development. He received his Ph.D.
(National doctorate) from Madrid National University, Spain along
with the studies on the law at the Western State Univ., School of
Law, Business Administration at California State Univ., Los
Angeles, U.S. and the international economic cooperation at St.
Anthony College, the Oxford University, England as in-resident
researcher.
He has held
numerous professorships worldwide such as in U.S., Japan
and Europe and has published
extensively both books and articles covering a wide range of topics
in international economics and regional development. Dr. Lee has
been awarded several scholastic and academic honors as well as a
commendation from Mexico
in appreciation of academic achievement for cooperation between
developing and developed countries.
I. World Trade
Center University
By bringing together the international scope of the World Trade
Centers Association, state-of-the-art technology, and proven
distance learning techniques, many of the traditional barriers
between people and their pursuit of higher education are
eliminated. One of the major issues confronting our times is the
"digital divide". Programs such as those offered by
WTCU will help people all over the world to bridge that gap.
Current
offerings include the Master of Business Administration from the
State University of New York, the Executive Master of Hospitality
Administration from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, the Doctor
of Philosophy, Doctor of Strategic Leadership and Bachelor of
Science from Regent University, Effective Business Writing and
Online Academic Skills from Pace University, English as a Second
Language courses from Columbia University and Pre-MBA courses from
Harvard University. Other offerings include Import/Export
certification and the web-based programs consisting of desktop,
technical, professional and practical skills courses from various
strategic alliances. Finally, in an effort to help solve the
shortage of grade level teachers worldwide and specifically in
third world countries, WTCU in conjunction with several partnering
world organizations, has taken on the task of designing an online
teacher education program to enable students to obtain a four-year
Bachelor of Arts degree and teacher certification
concurrently.
WTCU is contributing to World Peace through Education.
II. WTC Corps
World Trade
Center Corps was organized to create an avenue
of opportunity for both people of developing countries and of
high-achieving business professionals. The underlying principle of
WTC Corps is that if people are given the tools they need to bring
about economic development in their lives, then the eradication of
poverty and economic prosperity will result in people who will be
less antagonistic toward each other. Extrapolated to the
international scale, it has been proven in history that as
countries become increasingly involved with each other on an
economic level, the instances of armed conflict has decreased,
resulting in peace and prosperity for its citizens.
The
greatest concentration of simmering unrest and potential conflict
is located in lesser developed countries. Therefore, in keeping
with its commitment to establishing Peace through Trade, WTC
Corps volunteers go into those regional hot spots to work with and
educate entrepreneurial-minded men and women about small business
development. In cooperation with WTCA and local World Trade
Centers, WTC
Corps gives them access to its resources and wealth of information
so that they can make successful forays into international trade.
In doing so, WTC Corps is also laying a foundation for the next
generation to rise above their poverty to become future leaders.
These leaders will realize the value of economic development and
reform and will lead their countries into a time of economic
prosperity and peace.
Training
and community development projects are being carried out in Mexico,
Honduras, Kalmikia, Ethiopia, Indonesia,
Vietnam, the Balkans, China, Mongolia, Cambodia and Tanzania.
III. WTC Foundation
WTCA’s vision and strategy of promoting peace and stability
through trade offers one of the best hopes available to
improve and expand cooperation among peoples everywhere.
WTC Foundation has devoted to advancing the concept that:
1.
Poverty is a breeding ground for conflict;
2.
Prosperity is an antidote for conflict; and
3.
Poverty can be overcome and prosperity attained through education
and growth in business and employment;
WTC
Foundation is a worldwide charitable organization partnering with
non-profit organizations, businesses, religious groups,
governments, and community leaders to:
Work with the local community to identify, mentor, and develop a
community leader that will lead the next generation;
Collaborate with the community to identify its financial,
spiritual, social, and educational needs and provide them the tools
to become self-sustaining, self-supporting, and self-reliant; and
Lay the groundwork for the community to establish spontaneously multiplying
Micro Multipurpose Community Centers (MMCC).
WTC
Foundation is currently financing the major projects of WTC Corps.
IV. WORLD CULTURAL ASSETS
EXCHANGE FOUNDATION (W.C.A.F)
WTCA recognizes that over the years, many important artifacts have
been taken improperly from their original settings all over the
world. In many cases, these situations have produced tensions
among nations that are significant barriers to communication and
peaceful relations.
The Bukwandaechuppe, for example, was originally
made in Bukwan,
Korea about 500
years ago to celebrate Korea's
resistance to an invasion by Japan.
Approximately 100 years ago, the Japanese returned to occupy Korea.
In 1904, the artifact was taken from Korea
by the occupying Japanese Governor and sent to the emperor in Japan.
Since then, the artifact has remained in Japan where it has been
the subject of the extensive negotiations by the Korea-Japan Cultural
Assets Exchange Committee. This Committee asked
Mr. Guy F. Tozzoli, President of WTCA, to
help effectuate the release and transfer of the artifact to North Korea.
As a result of several meetings by Mr. Tozzoli
with representatives of North Korea,
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
has agreed to accept the artifact, and the details of the transfer
are being finalized.
Mr. Tozzoli's activities to return the
valued Bukwandaechuppe artifact to North Korea
have been expanded with his increased awareness that the exchange
of cultural artifacts can be another very effective means of
bridging the gap among nations.
Therefore, Mr. Tozzoli has concluded that
his work with Korea and Japan Cultural Assets Exchange Committee
in connection with the Bukwandaechuppe
artifact could be a useful model for similar negotiations in other
parts of the world. Accordingly, he and the members of the Korea-Japan
Cultural Assets Exchange Committee have led the effort
to create a worldwide cultural assets exchange entity to
pursue similar cultural exchange activities aimed at promoting
understanding and peace in all the world's regions.
World
Cultural Assets Exchange Foundation (WCAF) will identify
opportunities where it can be of help and, working in close
cooperation with the appropriate government and other agencies,
take steps to effectuate the transfer of artifacts and other assets
to their original settings. This work will not be limited to
situations where there is a dispute over ownership. The
W.C.A.F. will also promote the general exchange of cultural
artifacts as a way of encouraging increased international
understanding of the world's cultures.
Related sites:
World Trade Center University:
www.wtcu.org
World Trade Center Business Tourism: www.wtcbt.com
& www.biztourism.com
World Trade Center Corps.: www.wtccorps.org
WTC Foundation:
www.wtcf.org
World Cultural Assets
Exchange Foundation: www.wcaf.org
Korea World Trade Centers
Association: www.kwtca.org
World Trade Center Singapore: www.wtc.sg
World Trade Center Las Vegas: www.wtclv.com
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