On October 16th and 17th, Tainan welcomed a visit from Mr. Scott Wagner, the Deputy Mayor of Kansas City, accompanied by Ms. Narbeli Galindo, Director of International Business Development Initiatives in the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City. During their visit, they attended a dinner reception held in their honor and hosted by Tainan Deputy Mayor Wu Chung-Rung on behalf of Tainan City Government. The delegates from the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri visited Tainan to find out about the city’s industrial development and explore possibilities for promoting cooperation between business enterprises in the sister cities.
Deputy Mayor Wu remarked that Kansas and Tainan were approaching the 40th anniversary of the sister-city relationship that they formed in 1978. Thanking his American counterpart for leading this visit, he said the fact that the two cities had kept up their connections and exchange of visits despite the great distance between them was testament to the precious nature of their friendship. He then spoke about the development of the renewable energy and biotech industries in Tainan, and introduced some of the city government’s major construction projects that are currently being planned. Afterwards, the two sides had a broad discussion of social, education, urban planning, smart city, council system, and other issues.
Deputy Mayor Wagner complimented Tainan on the deliciousness of its cuisine, the vitality of its industrial development, and the friendliness of its people, all of which left a deep impression on everyone. He hoped that the two cities would be able to step up their cooperation and connections, including in the exchange of art works between museums, the bilateral exchange of talent between universities and research institutions, the exchange of technologies between their respective science parks, and assistance for business investment in both cities. He also said that, since both cities are actively developing renewable energy industries, with Tainan particularly focusing on product development and Kansas specializing in green building, they should be able to gain greater benefits by collaborating with each other.
Ms. Galindo said that Kansas City was often referred to as “the Heart of the United States” due to its central location and importance as a transportation hub. That made it an ideal choice for budding enterprises looking to invest in the U.S., since businesses with a presence in the city could easily reach out to other cities in every direction. Thus it was a city with tremendous development potential. She also mentioned that her responsibilities included helping her city’s businesses extend their reach into Asian markets, and now that this visit had enabled her to gain a better understanding of Tainan’s investment environment, she would be able to take information about this back to business owners in Kansas.
During their two-day stay in Tainan, the delegates from Kansas also took in visits to Chimei Museum, Biotanico Inc., Kwantex Research Inc., the Southern Taiwan Science Park, Tainan City Council, and the city government’s Economic Development Bureau. They hoped that this itinerary would give them a fuller understanding of Tainan’s governmental development and the current status of its industries, and that the sister cities could look forward to extending their friendly ties into new realms.