Secretariat, Taipei City Government

On September 4, 2020, Zdeněk Hřib, the mayor of Prague, was accompanied by Martin Churavý, the Head of International Relations and Protocol Unit of Prague; Petr Pavlinec, information director of Vysočina District in Prague; Václav Jáchim, a district project manager; and Dr. Tomáš Rečín, the public service digitalization director of Visegrad Four for Developing Information Society while meeting with Mayor Ko. Other personnel who attended the meeting were Taipei City Deputy Mayor Huang Shan-shan, Taipei City Mayor’s Office for External Affair Commissioner Tom Chou, Taipei City Government International Affairs Advisory Council Chief Executive Officer Gordon Yang, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs European Division Deputy Director Huang Wei-jen.
 
Mayor Ko first welcomed Mayor Hřib and his delegation and apologized for the unavailability of a more elaborate welcome party due to the current outbreak the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Ko also expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome received by the Taipei City Government delegation while visiting Prague earlier this year; during this trip, the two cities signed not only a sister city agreement but also three memorandums of understanding in the areas of animal preservation, tourism, and smart city development.
 
Mayor Hřib expressed his joy of visiting Taiwan again and thanked Deputy Mayor Huang for accompanying them to visit the Taipei Zoo, where he was able to visit the two pangolins to be sent to the Prague Zoo as gifts. The mayor hoped that all Prague citizens will have the chance to see the pangolins from Taipei. In the future, the Prague Zoo can send staff members to the Taipei Zoo to learn about the techniques to care for pangolins, or the Taipei Zoo will send experts to the Prague Zoo to provide assistance.
 
During the current meeting, the two cities discussed on collaboration in the areas of animal preservation, music culture, student exchange, smart innovation, and tourism, and have reached various consensuses. In response to the current pandemic outbreak, Mayor Ko also decided that Taipei City will donate 100,000 medical masks to Prague as a symbol of friendship between the two sister cities. Mayor Hřib expressed his gratitude on behalf of Prague citizens regarding the assistance provided by Taipei City. After the meeting, Mayor Ko and Mayor Hřib hosted a press conference and made a joint announcement regarding the meeting result.