Secretariat, Taipei City Government

　　To advance the partnership between Taipei and Canada, the Taipei City Government invited Jordan Reeves, Executive Director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, to attend the municipal administrative meeting held on April 6th and share with each Head of Department the Canadian collaboration with Taipei City in the future. Reeves was the first ambassador-level diplomat to come to the city town hall to deliver a themed speech and exchange ideas.

　　Mr. Jordan Reeves, who spoke fluent Mandarin during the speech to the Heads of Department, indicated that Canada and Taipei have many similarities in common. Both sides are devoted to developing social housing and building a smart city. He specifically mentioned the wish to collaborate with Taipei on specific areas such as smart cities, education, and culture.

　　In terms of smart cities, Canada’s new innovative technology accelerator can be imported to Taiwan to help Taipei City build a more modern smart city through Canada's AI technology and other technology resources.

　　In terms of education, Taiwan sends out approximately 5,000 students annually to Canada to study. Both Taiwan and Canada have plenty of opportunities to reinforce educational collaboration, including in the professional fields, language training, and curriculum (establishing Canadian schools in Taiwan with joint-dual high school diploma). Mayor KO gave the Department of Education special instructions to build a contact channel for further bilateral collaboration.

　　On the cultural front, Taipei will hold an event on July 1st to celebrate Canada Day. Canada Day Celebration in Taipei has been the largest celebration event outside Canada. In 2019, more than 9,000 citizens attended the event, which brought infinite business opportunities to Taipei. The Canada Day Celebration this year will be the best chance to show Taipei’s epidemic prevention results to the world!

　　Mayor KO expressed his pleasure at the interesting sharing by the Canadian Representative and wished more citizens could feel the concerns and interactions from international friends.

　　In addition, Mayor KO especially led directors and participants at the meeting to stand for a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the Taroko Express accident.