A visiting group from Burnaby in the province of British Columbia, Canada, led by Mayor Corrigan, called on Chang Hung-Nien, the spokesman for Taichung City Council and Mayor Jason Hu. The three sides cosigned a high tech city declaration to establish industrial cooperation and enhance a mutual economic and trade relationship between the two cities. 

Burnaby is a multicultural city with a population originating from over 100 cities all over the world. Mayor Corrigan introduced his city to Spokesman Chang and Mayor Hu and mentioned that visiting his city was like entering a global village. Many Taiwanese live in Burnaby, which was one of the reasons the group arranged the economic and trade tour of Taiwan, believing this would be positive for both sides. Mayor Corrigan compared the declaration to a marriage and felt both cities were well matched with the expectation of further exchanges.

When talking about Taichung, Mayor Hu made mention of the rain in recent days, and Mayor Corrigan compared it to the frequent rainy days in Burnaby, seemingly like home. However, when Spokesman Chang expressed that Taiwanese expected visitors would not miss home because the hosts’ enthusiasm would make them feel at home. The words translated by the mayor drew the visiting group’s laughter.

Mayor Hu said that Taichung was the fastest growing city in Taiwan in the past 4 to 5 years with stable financial resources, and thus was the right time and place for the visiting group from Burnaby. Furthermore, he explained that the Central Taiwan Science Park had created huge production values, and Burnaby as a significant tech city in Canada could be the model for Taichung City in terms of tech culture promotion and creation.

The group from Burnaby and Taichung City Government and Council cosigned a high tech city declaration to promise technological industrial exchanges as well as technological and economic cooperation between the two cities.