On the morning of November 23, Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che and New Orleans City Mayor LaToya Cantrell held a video conference together. The conference was hosted by Director Luo Fu-wen of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston. The two mayors discussed about initiating bilateral exchange between Tainan and New Orleans. Both alumni of the John F. Kennedy School of Harvard University, the two mayors shared a very warm dialogue. Mayor Cantrell thoughtfully displayed our national flag in the video conference venue to show the close friendship between the two cities. During the meeting, the two city leaders decided to foster further ties in the future and write new chapters of friendship and cooperation.
Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che first congratulated Mayor Cantrell on her successful re-election, and thanked Taiwan’s local representative office for facilitating the video conference. It is not easy to conduct international exchange online during the pandemic. Mayor Huang also expressed great gratitude to the U.S. government for donating as many as four million doses of Modena vaccine to Taiwan in fighting against the pandemic.
Mayor Huang Wei-che pointed out that New Orleans is well-known internationally for its jazz music, while Tainan is the "cultural capital" of Taiwan. There are many future projects for cooperation between the two cities in the arts and culture. For example, the Tainan Street Arts Festival and the first-ever Tainan International Music Festival held this year, are both excellent opportunities for the two cities to work together. In addition, as Tainan City will soon commemorate its 400th anniversary in 2024, Mayor Huang invited Mayor Cantrell to lead a delegation to participate in the celebration activities in 2024, hoping that the friendship between the two cities will continue to flourish.
New Orleans Mayor Cantrell expressed that she was glad to meet today to initiate the friendship between the two cities. It is a very meaningful start. She hopes to have the opportunity to come to Tainan in the future, and even participate in the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city in 2024. Mayor Cantrell also hopes that the two cities will continue to explore various possibilities of cooperation and exchange. For example, in the future musicians and young people from New Orleans can also visit Tainan.
Hurricane Ida struck the eastern United States in September, causing significant damage to the city of New Orleans. Mayor Cantrell especially expressed her gratitude for the warm condolences and relief donations from Taiwan, which she described as an extension of the love that connects the peoples from both sides.
New Orleans, located in Louisiana, has a long history and a rich culture influenced by French, Spanish and African immigrants. It is the birthplace of jazz music. Many famous jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, the founding father of jazz, were all born in New Orleans. The city's annual Mardi Gras Festival attracts many visitors from around the world. Mayor Cantrell, a Democrat, is the first female mayor in the city's 300-year history and recently won her second-term on November 13 by receiving 64.7% of the vote. Before the video conference, Mayor Huang also send in advance many famous Tainan souvenirs to Mayor Cantrell to express his kind friendship on behalf of the entire city of Tainan.