The "Tainan Global Trade Cooperation" was put in place jointly by Tainan City Government and Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) to prepare local businesses to come out ahead in the post-Covid era, as most of the trade exhibitions around the world have been canceled or postponed after the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The program includes a number of online trade mission events, of which the first was held on May 5 at the Minjhih Win-Win Innovation and Incubation Center. The program launch ceremony was attended online by Huang Wei-che, Major of Tainan, James Huang, Chairman of TAITRA, and 22 international marketing professionals from seven countries.
Mayor Huang expressed his gratitude for the assistance given by TAITRA in connecting local businesses to overseas markets. The TAITRA has long been engaged in international trade promotion and successful in marketing industrial, commercial, and even agricultural products. The Mayor also hopes that more start-ups from Tainan will find a way into the world through such partnership.
Chen Kai-ling, Director-general of Economic Development Bureau, said that exploring business opportunities and attracting investment are mutually supportive. Therefore, the city government does not only assist local businesses in accessing other markets, but also continuously encourages local businesses to invest more in Tainan. According to Chen, 66.1 billion NTD have been committed across 673 new investment projects from January 2019 to March 2021, totaling an output value of 90.8 billion NTD and an estimated 16,506 new jobs. In the upcoming one-on-one trade meeting events, the city government will continue to prioritize the demands of Tainan's most promising sectors.
More online procurement meeting events are scheduled on May 12, 17, and 28 (to avoid the May Day Golden Week in China and Japan, and Eid al-Fitr in Islamic countries) to aid the best-placed sectors in Tainan to survive the pandemic and seize business opportunities in the global market.