Secretariat, Taipei City Government

On Nov. 4, 2020, Gourangalal Das and Sohag Sen, new Director General and current Deputy Director General of the India Taipei Association, respectively, paid a visit to meet with Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je. Other participants of the meeting included Executive Director of the International Affairs Advisory Council, Gordon Yang; Deputy Director of the Department of Economic Development, Wu Hsin-pei; and Acting Chief Secretary of the Department of Education, Wu Chin-sheng.
 
Mayor Ko indicated that he and his team visited New Delhi, India in March 2017, where they went to various locations such as the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, hospitals, and the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial, accumulating a great deal of experience. With India being the world’s second most populous country and possibly becoming the world’s most populous country in the future, its importance is unquestionable. India not only boasts a gargantuan market but also has the world’s best talented ICT workers. Thus, through cooperation between India and Taiwan’s dominant semiconductor industry, new possibilities may be created.
 
Director General Das noted that Taiwan is a popular place for Indian students to study abroad; that there are currently over 700 and 3,000 Indian students studying in Taipei and Taiwan, respectively; and that there are scholars conducting research at Academia Sinica. Additionally, Taiwan’s highly developed medical care may be integrated with India’s ICT industry to develop precision medicine. With the current trades between Taiwan and India being developing stably, now is the time to enhance their economic and trade exchanges.
 
Mayor Ko believed that Taiwan should establish a closer relationship with India, and invite more Indian ICT students to study in Taiwan to promote the development of both talented Taiwanese and Indian personnel and facilitate exchanges between Taiwan and India’s ICT industry.