Taiwan was ranked seventh in the Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006 Networked Readiness Index (NRI) rankings released Tuesday by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF), according to the news reaching from Taipei.

According to the report, which assesses the networked readiness of 115 economies around the world, Taiwan has moved up eight notches from last year's 15th place, entering the top 10 for the first time.

The NRI measures the degree of preparedness of an economy to participate in and benefit from information and communication technology (ICT) developments.

Among the technologically advanced economies in the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan outperformed Japan and Hong Kong in terms of NRI, ranking second behind Singapore.

In terms of NRI rankings, the top 10 economies are the United States, Singapore, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Canada, Taiwan, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

It is the fifth consecutive year that the WEF has released its Global Information Technology Report, which has grown into the world's most respected assessment of ICT impact on the development process and the competitiveness of economies.

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2006)