Secretariat, Taipei City Government

On November 22, 2021, Director Bo Mønsted of the Trade Council of Denmark, Taipei, Representative Mikko Karppinen of the Finland Trade Center, Representative Bengt Carlsson of the Swedish Trade and Invest Council, and five other officials met with Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je to discuss future bilateral partnerships.
 
In a short speech welcoming the delegation, Mayor Ko stated that Taipei City hopes to learn from Denmark, Finland, and Sweden as the world leaders in renewable energy, ageing societies, electric transportation, energy efficiency, water management, and waste disposal.
 
Having recently completed quarantine, Director Mønsted was impressed by Taipei City’s anti-COVID-19 measures especially the quarantine hotel and PCR testing process, that have secured Taipei City’s image as a safe city.
 
Representative Mikko Karppinen said Finland’s top ranking in the world on the Happiness Index is correlated with Finland’s success in promoting sustainable development goals, expressing his readiness to share Finland’s experiences with Taipei City.
 
Representative Bengt Carlsson admired the considerable improvement in air quality resulting from Taipei City’s green transportation policy. Because electric buses have been successfully established in Sweden, Carlsson also offered to share Sweden’s success stories to benefit Taipei City’s green transport strategy.
 
Mayor Ko in turn shared Taipei City Government’s experience in promoting a smart city as part of the initiative to create a higher-quality and sustainable living environment for citizens in Taipei. He also expressed a desire to learn from Nordic countries to maximize resource utilization, reduce environmental damage, and make Taipei City a sustainable and competitive city.
 
Mayor Ko announced the second edition of Taipei City’s white paper on digital transformation in the post-COVID era, to be released in January next year. As well as Taipei City Government’s efforts to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050, Mayor Ko hoped that information on Taipei’s industry transformations can serve as a reference for all sectors and generate more business opportunities. These announcements were well received by the three Nordic representatives, who expressed their willingness to strengthen their partnerships with Taipei City. Furthermore, Commissioner Chung-chieh Lin of the Department of Economic Development, Taipei City Government, announced that an international conference on energy policies will be held next year; representatives and businesses from Scandinavia have been invited to participate and share their experience.
 
The meeting between Taipei City Government and the Nordic representatives concluded successfully, with Taipei City Government and the Nordic countries planning to cooperate closely on green energy, environmental protection, and sustainable development to create trade and business opportunities.