Secretariat, Taipei City Government

Deputy Mayor Pong Cheng-Sheng of Taipei City, accompanied by colleagues of the Department of Information Technology and Department of Environmental Protection, held the first video conference with Deputy Mayor Linda Ozola of Riga City, which is the capital of Latvia and the sister city of Taipei, at 3:00 pm (Taipei Time) on August 10, 2022.

Deputy Mayor Pong and Deputy Mayor Ozola of Riga City met for the first time through video conferencing due to the pandemic. Government staff from both cities who were in charge of digital governance and net-zero carbon emissions briefed the attendees and the two deputy mayors and exchanged opinions regarding urban governance and expansion of future cooperation. During the video conference, Deputy Mayor Pong invited Mayor Martins Stakis and Deputy Mayor Ozola of Riga City to lead a delegation to Taiwan for the 2023 Smart City Summit & Expo hosted by the Taipei City Government next year.

Deputy Mayor Ozola of Riga City said that she was honored to meet Deputy Mayor Pong. She also mentioned that she was invited to visit Taiwan in 2019 and was deeply impressed by the prosperity of Taipei City. Meanwhile, she was pleased to know that Taipei City’s achievements in the fields of information technology and environmental protection are acknowledged globally. She stressed that the main purpose of attending this video conference was to learn from Taipei City, hoping to solidify the friendly, cooperative relationship between the two cities. Representative Andrew Lee of Taipei Mission in the Republic of Latvia also expressed his pleasure to join the video conference. The conference was believed to deepen the bond and increase exchanges and cooperation between Taipei and Riga and was a joint effort to enhance the well-being of their citizens.

During the conference, Deputy Mayor Pong mentioned the challenges facing both cities in the process of carbon reduction; he looked forward to mutual learning, growth, and progress toward the goal of net-zero carbon emission by 2050. Deputy Mayor Ozola emphasized that she would encourage dialogues between departments of Riga City Council and Taipei City Government to share the experience of urban governance. Finally, Deputy Mayor Pong said that the fact that Deputy Mayor Ozola and other government staff members were not required to wear a mask was evidence of Riga City Council’s appropriate response to the pandemic situation. He hoped that the citizens of Taipei could soon return to normal life without having to wear a mask.