Taipei City Government

Taipei City and New Taipei City are very close in many ways. With the aim of enhancing the development and international competitiveness of the Greater Taipei Metropolis, two city governments have accomplished several projects together via versatile cooperation mechanisms in recent years.

Mayor Ko Wen-je emphasizes the importance of Taipei-New Taipei collaboration. He visited Mayor Eric Chu even before his inauguration to discuss how to bring existing cooperation further and facilitate more win-win projects to benefit the residents of the Greater Taipei Metropolis.

Accordingly, the 1st Taipei-New Taipei Collaboration Conference in 2015 (hereinafter referred to as “the Conference”) was held on March 5, 2015 at the Herwan Hotel in Pingxi District, New Taipei City. The new collaboration was unveiled as the Taipei City Government presented Taipei 101 porcelain cups to the attending officials of New Taipei City. At the end of the conference, Taipei Mayor Ko and New Taipei Mayor Chu flied a lantern into the sky to pray for the new collaboration and the citizens of both cities.

At the Conference, 46 collaborative projects were included in the agenda for discussion. In the aspect of transportation, the conference reviewed the bridges and roads across two cities, discussed to add more bike lanes and improve cyclists’ safety. For urban development, two city governments reached a common understanding on the use of the 2017 Taipei Summer Universiade Athletes’ Village after the game. It is agreed to turn the Village into social rented housing, which will help to solve the housing problem for citizens. In terms of industrial and economic development, attending officials discussed the possibility of integrating wholesale markets of both cities in hopes to maximize the effectiveness and function of the markets by making good use of both city’s advantages and resources. Also initiated at the Conference was a project to urge for cooperation on vocational training and the sharing of employment resources. On the issue of disaster prevention, the special rescue squad of both cities will exchange experiences and strengthen collaboration to build up stronger camaraderie in executing disaster relief operations.

Taipei City Government shared the experiences on building the food ingredients registration platform. Additionally, the sharing of the existing registration platform was discussed at the Conference in hopes to ensure citizens’ food safety. For tourism, two city governments will continue to expand and promote the travel circle of Taipei, New Taipei and Keelung and integrate resources for tourism marketing. For instance, they will join to propose several tour packages and organize promotion events at tourism exhibition overseas to showcase the soft power of Taipei and New Taipei in tourism.

In the aspect of education and culture, two city governments will make joint effort in collecting knowledge about Hakka and aboriginal culture, encourage the sharing of teaching materials and organize versatile activities. In addition, Mayor Ko said the issues regarding new immigrants should be included for discussion to increase economic size.

In order to review the collaborative projects regularly, each project team will hold meetings every season. Furthermore, meetings involving deputy mayors will be held every six months, and mayors will meet once a year. As officials of two city governments exchange opinions and experiences, they break the boundaries to find a shared understanding about the cooperation. Hand in hand they work to promise more convenience and better quality living for citizens of Taipei and New Taipei.