Secretariat, Taipei City Government

Tom Tate, the mayor of the City of Gold Coast, Australia, led a delegation that visited Taiwan from September 17 to 20. On September 19, Mayor Tate discussed various topics related to city governance during a meeting with Wan-An Chiang, the mayor of Taipei City, and during visits to Taipei Municipal Da’an Vocational High School and  t.Hub. The delegation was welcomed with a banquet arranged by the deputy mayor of Taipei City, Shu-Chuan Lee, along with several TCG department heads.

At the meeting, Mayor Chiang welcomed Mayor Tate for his third visit to Taiwan and spoke of the close interactions between Taipei City and the City of Gold Coast throughout the cities’ 41-year sisterhood, which began in 1982. Although the COVID-19 pandemic prevented physical exchanges, the two cities remained in contact throughout the pandemic through video meetings and a book exchange program. The cities currently plan to deepen their collaboration in the area of education.

Mayor Chiang continued by speaking about a trip that colleagues of the TCG plan to take to Brisbane for the Asia Pacific Cities Summit in October and by expressing his wish that these members visit the City of Gold Coast during the trip. He also mentioned the 2025 World Masters Games, which will be held in Taipei City and will host mature athletes from around the world, and he invited Mayor Tate as well as his delegation to attend the event. Mayor Chiang added that he would like to visit the City of Gold Coast when an opportunity presents itself.

In Mayor Tate’s address at the meeting, he stated that Taipei City was the first sister city he visited after he took office as mayor in 2012 and pointed out the similarities between the two cities. He mentioned Taipei City’s achievements regarding becoming a smart city and promoting economic and sustainable development and indicated that other cities can learn from Taipei City’s success. He further indicated that education is a topic of particular importance to him. Mayor Tate reported that he hoped that through study abroad programs, students from all sister cities of the City of Gold Coast could visit the city to participate in exchange events with peers. He indicated that such programs would further strengthen the City of Gold Coast’s relationships with its sister cities. He expressed a wish that the City of Gold Coast, which is currently hosting some 500 Taiwanese students, could recruit more students from Taiwan and encourage people to learn English in Australia.

In 2018, Mayor Tate was invited to name a koala in Taiwan during a visit for the signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding for the gift of koalas. He named the koala Emily, after his daughter. During the banquet of this most recent visit, he asked, laughing, about how Emily the koala was doing and said that his daughter was well and would soon give birth. The commissioner of department of Education, Chih-Min Tang, responded by saying that the koala was well and invited Tate to visit the koala in the following year, that is, in 2024, during Taipei Zoo’s 110th anniversary celebration.

Mayor Tate added that the City of Gold Coast is working on developing waste-to-energy technology and that he has visited the City of Gold Coast’s sister cities Dubai and London to learn from their waste-to-energy practices in the hopes of developing efficient waste-to-energy technology. He also reported hoping to exchange experiences with Taipei City on related practices to achieve the shared goal of building a sustainable city. At the end of the meeting, he expressed appreciation for the reception the TCG had given him and said he would be happy to receive Mayor Chiang when he visits the City of Gold Coast.