Representative Guido Tielman and Deputy Representative René Beerepoot of Netherlands Office Taipei (NLOT) made a courtesy call to Mayor of the Taichung City Government Lu Shiow-yen today (Feb 15th). The two sides held talks on net zero carbon emissions, low-carbon transportation and cold chain logistics. Representative Tielman also expressed his interest to further cooperate on opportunities such as holding job fairs, cycling activities and circular economy expos. Mayor Lu pointed out that NLOT and the Taichung City Government had been closely interacting with each other and co-organizing various activities together; and sincerely welcomed further cooperation between NLOT and the Taichung City Government.
“The Netherlands is one of my favorite countries!” When meeting with Representative Tielman, Mayor Lu said that NLOT was the first diplomatic mission in Taiwan that visited Taichung City Government in the Year of the Tiger, and one of the two places she visited in her three years in office was the Netherlands. She mentioned that Taiwan and the Netherlands share many similarities, such having a small land area, friendly good-mannered people, and extraordinary performance in agriculture, precision industry, sustainable development, and trade, etc. In addition, she believed that Taiwan, which had been promoting wind energy, can learn from the Netherlands’ practical experience in generating wind power and other renewable energy, and both countries should have many things to exchange and learn from each other.
Mayo Lu expressed that the Labor Affairs Bureau of Taichung City Government had previously invited the Netherlands’ renewable energy providers to recruit talents in Taiwan through job fair and the matching rate was very high; and that the Netherlands’ major development policy – circular economy – actually matched the Taichung City Government’s carbon reduction policy. Oriented to circular economy, smart industry and R&D and innovation as its key economic and trade policies over the years, the Netherlands even set the goal of “zero greenhouse gas emission and 100% sustainable energy by 2050”. In 2019 Mayor Lu visited Park 20|20, the sustainable office park in the Netherlands, and saw many successful examples of implementing circular economy. She expressed her wish that both sides would continue to exchange more ideas on sustainability policy from this opportunity and hoped that Taichung would succeed in building a low-carbon sustainable city from the Netherlands’ successful experience.
Mayor Lu emphasized that, last year, the Taichung City Government had signed a climate emergency declaration to promote “Strategy for Sustainable 168 Goals” to head towards the net zero carbon emission goal by 2050; and published the City’s first voluntary local review - 2021 Taichung City Voluntary Local Review (the VLR report). This time, she also gifted Representative Tielman an English version of the VLR report to share Taichung City’s sustainable goals and experience with the Netherlands.
Representative Tielman who speaks fluent Mandarin expressed that it was his third visit to Taichung. He thinks that Taiwan has an exceptional development in many industries such as computer, semiconductor and bicycle manufacturing. He took Giant Bicycles as an example and said that this company, located in Taichung with 300 to 600 employees, was the biggest Taiwanese company that invested in the Netherlands. He expressed his admiration for Taiwan’s ability to rapidly build a kingdom of bicycles. He also mentioned that the recruitment of wind power talents was extremely crucial; the Netherlands’ participation in the Taichung Job Fair saw many opportunities and it also launched seeds teacher training programs to cultivate talents in this field. Representative Tielman hoped that this training be extended to in Taichung in order to cultivate more high-quality technical personnel.
Representative Tielman mentioned that the Netherlands’ flower and plant exports account for 52% of the world and the industry could be linked to Taichung City’s cold chain logistics industry. He expressed his aspiration that, after the pandemic subsided, NLOT could discuss related cooperation with the City Government’s Economic Development Bureau or Agriculture Bureau and local farmers associations. In addition, he mentioned that Dutch companies were carrying out many cooperation and investment projects with Taichung, such as Dutch equipment supplier ASML with an established office in Taichung. Moreover, he also brought up Taichung’s water shortage crisis last year and said that many Dutch companies had abundant experience and technology in this area, such as facilitating the rapid desilting of the reservoir to increase water storage, and using big data to monitor water pipeline leakage, etc. He hoped that the two sides could have the opportunity to cooperate in the area of water conservancy infrastructures.
Mayor Lu has not only specially prepared an 8-inch lacquer plate of Taichung Park Pavilion and a Lishan Black Tea Giftbox to Representative Tielman, but also gifted him a cute Popo Tiger hand lantern. Representative Tielman was pleasantly surprised and expressed that his two-year child would love it very much. NLOT also gifted Mayor Lu a unique silk scarf from the Van Gogh Museum. The atmosphere during the visit was warm and pleasant.