A delegation from The Association Réalités et Relations Internationales (ARRI) visited Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che at the City Hall on Nov. 18. The French delegation, which comprises 29 members from various industries, government, and academia in France, mentioned that before they departed, they had already heard that Tainan is the cultural capital of Taiwan and are particularly interested in the city’s well-known cultural and historical sites. The two parties exchanged views on historical site maintenance policies and regulations.
Mayor Huang remarked that this year (2024) marks the 400th anniversary of Tainan City, the oldest city in Taiwan, and the government spares no effort in preserving local historical sites. He added that Tainan can learn much from France’s experiences in the area of historical site maintenance. Presently, the city has a total of 142 historical sites, of which 22 are national heritage sites. On the other hand, Tainan is also a new science and technology city where the latest semiconductor technology industry chains are gathered. The Mayor expressed his gratitude to the delegation for their concern about the Taiwan Strait situation and pertinent geopolitics and mentioned that Tainan and Béziers became sister cities last year with hopes of encouraging more interactions between Tainan and France.
President David Capitant of ARRI spoke on behalf of the delegation. He thanked Mayor Huang for taking the time out of his busy schedule to receive them and explained that the members of the ARRI delegation come from various fields. Every year, the Association selects a country or city to visit to obtain an in-depth understanding of the destination’s present international position and gather data for future recommendations to the French government. Taiwan was chosen this year, and the delegation had already met with several Central Government agencies in Taiwan a few days ago. The group is also pleased to meet the leaders of regional governments. Knowing that Tainan has a long history, the members expressed their curiosity about the central and regional regulations concerning the maintenance of historical sites and were happy to share their experiences with Tainan as well.
The Association Réalités et Relations Internationales (ARRI) is a French public welfare organization with 150 members who are former political appointees, ambassadors, members of Congress, university professors, military generals, and former or current senior executives of major French companies. ARRI regularly produces important international relations reports to help the French industry, government, and academia have a clearer understanding of the causes behind the current international status and possible future developments.