The 2019 Asia Pacific Cities Summit and Mayors' Forum will place in Brisbane, Australia from July 7 to 10, and Taichung City Deputy Mayor Bruce Linghu has been invited to participate in the event. Today (8th), he signed an MOU on international exchange with Brisbane Mayor Adrian Schrinner to promote exchanges and collaboration between the 2 cities in areas such as innovation development, investment, sports, education, tourism, and disaster management. At the same time, the aim is to increase Taichung's international exposure via city diplomacy.

According to Deputy Mayor Linghu, Taichung currently has a population of approximately 2.8 million, making it the second largest metropolis in Taiwan that offers similar population and climate conditions as Brisbane. In addition, both cities share similar values in cultural diversity and democracy. He is glad to have the opportunity to visit the magnificent city to facilitate economic, trade and city administration exchanges between Taichung and Brisbane.

Deputy Mayor Linghu commented that Taichung features a plethora of festivities including the Taichung Shopping Festival in July, Taichung Jazz Festival in October, as well as the Taiwan Lantern Festival, World Orchid Conference, and World University Golf Championship in February, March, and June next year. Mayor Schrinner and other dignitaries were also invited to come to Taichung to join the festivities.

After listening to Deputy Mayor Linghu's introduction of Taichung, Mayor Schrinner expressed a high level of interest in Taichung Shopping Festival and instructed Brisbane City Hall's Economic Development and Marketing Department to exchange ideas with Taichung City Hall and learn from each other. At the same time, he also inquired about the details of the 2020 Taiwan Lantern Festival in order to consider the possibility of participating in the event. Furthermore, he asked Brisbane City Councilor Wen-I Huang to liaise with the city hall in an effort to facilitate more bilateral exchanges across different disciplines.

In addition, the city hall delegates exchanged experiences with Brisbane's Metro and Urban Development and Environmental Protection-related authorities in aspects including green transportation, low carbon emissions, sustainability, and environmental protection over the last 2 decades. In particular, the Urban Development and Environmental Protection Department shared its air quality improvement measures and the city's low carbon vision by 2031, including pollution source analysis and control. Meanwhile, public transport carbon reduction performance and usage rate are improved through driver training and school education. Deputy Mayor Linghu introduced the plan for Taichung MRT's green line, and both parties exchanged opinions on the topic of public transport planning.

Secretariat Nai-lun Yen indicated that Taichung and Brisbane both emphasize a city's sustainable development, carbon reduction and environmental protection, tourism, education, youth entrepreneurship, and startup industry development. Coincidentally, both cities are faced with the challenge of extreme weather such as typhoon, torrential rain, and drought, therefore it is hoped that through experience and resource sharing, Taichung and Brisbane will be able to learn from each other, thereby fostering flourishing developments and forging a close bond between the 2 cities.