Secretariat, Taipei City Government

From 27 January to 6 February 2018, Mayor Ko Wen-Je of Taipei City visited the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Turkey with members of Taipei City Government. The delegation included city council members Xu Shi-zhen, Tong Zhong-yan and Chen Jian-ming, along with representatives from the municipal departments of Economic Development, Health, Urban Development, Information Technology, and Transportation, and the Taipei City Secretariat. The itinerary included Amsterdam, Utrecht, Almere, Eindhoven, Brussels, Warsaw, Gdansk and Istanbul.
 
During the trip, Mayor Ko met with Jan van Zanen and Jeroen Kreijkamp (mayor and deputy mayor of Utrecht), Franc Weerwind and Mark Pol (mayor and deputy mayor of Almere), John Jorritsma (Mayor of Eindhoven), Benedicte Wilders (Director of the Brussels Invest & Export), Andrey Kovatchev (Vice Chairman of the European Parliament Taiwan Friendship Group) and Lech Walesa (former President of Poland).
 
On 2 February, Mayor Ko became the first Taipei mayor since 1995 to visit sister city Warsaw, where he was warmly welcomed by Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz. The two mayors marked the occasion by signing a Memorandum of Cooperation to expand collaboration and continue to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two cities.
 
Mayor Ko witnessed the delegation’s signing of several cooperation agreements with the Netherlands agencies: (1) Taipei Smart City Project Management Office signed a memorandum of technical cooperation with the IOTA Foundation. (2) YOHO CITY, a bicycle and creative life company from Taipei City, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dutch Bicycle Center. (3) Rockstart, a Dutch startup accelerator company, signed memoranda of understanding with FutureWard and Hongwell Group, a Taipei Neihu Technology Park BOT investor. (4) The Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan, R.O.C., signed a memorandum of cooperation with Eindhoven Brainport.
 
Mayor Ko visited the European Parliament and delivered a speech entitled "A proud city with progressive values" talking about how Taipei City has realized of the concepts of justice, gender equality, public trust and openness. The speech was warmly received by the members of the European Parliament.
 
This visit focused on urban renewal, public housing, smart cities, green transportation, circular economy, home health care and new industries. Mayor Ko said the trip was a great success and that he intends to integrate Dutch ideas about the circular economy into the city’s housing policy.