The most important event of the Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce (ASTCC) – the 3rd joint meeting of the 29th session of directors and supervisors – was unveiled in Taichung today (on the 18th). President Tsai Ing-wen attended the meeting and declared that the government will be the strongest backing of Taiwanese businesses overseas and will turn Taiwan into a key player in world economic development. Mayor Lu Shiow-yen, on the other hand, attended the meeting as the host and expressed welcome. She pointed out that the “Three Major Programs for Investing in Taiwan” promoted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs have attracted 247 companies to invest in Taichung, the highest in the nation, and created over 22,000 employment opportunities with a total investment of nearly NTD300 billion. The ASTCC’s decision of holding the meeting in Taichung for two consecutive years shows its recognition of Taichung’s economic development and the city government is looking forward to seeing more companies invest in Taichung.

“Welcome home, welcome to Taichung!” Mayor Lu said that, whether in terms of investment environment, quality of life, welfare measures and infrastructure, Taichung has shown anotable growth in recent years and is the best choice for holding exhibitions and meetings. Moreover, witnessed by ASTCC and even more indicator groups, the city government will continue to enhance regional competitiveness and internationalization to attract more investments in Taichung.

President Tsai Ing-wen expressed her gratitude to the ASTCC for linking up Taiwanese businesses in Asia and facilitating cooperation and exchanges between Taiwan and other countries, such as coordinating Taiwanese businesses to participate in public welfare activities launched by governments, and calling on countries to support Taiwan to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), World Health Organization (WHO) and other organizations. President Tsai says that the Taiwanese government acts as the backing of Taiwanese businesses. For example, in response to the challenges of the pandemic, the Overseas Community Affairs Council has guided Overseas Credit Guarantee Fund to carry out relief programs; the “Three Major Programs for Investing in Taiwan” will be extended to 2024; and, with respect to “net zero carbon emissions by 2050”, the Taiwanese government will invest NTD900 billion to promote relevant programs by 2030. She believes that we will work closely with each other to bring our strengths into full play, leading Taiwan to the world stage and become a key player in world economic development.

Chairman of ASTCC Chiang Fu-long said that confronted by severe pandemic challenges, ASTCC and its 67 regional branches have proactively formed an emergency contact team in response to the pandemic. The team is responsible to handle vaccination, finance and immigration related issues and is cooperating with expatriate countries to promote public welfare and donation activities to demonstrate the solidarity of ASTCC. Through on-site visits, online exchange programs and forums, it also helps Taiwanese businesses to get a head start during the pandemic and adjust their tempo before starting again.

Director of the Economic Development Bureau Chang Feng-yuan expressed that, upholding Mayor Lu’s spirit of “completing existing work and launching new work despite challenges faced”, the construction of Taichung’s major infrastructure did not stop during the pandemic. For example, “Taichung Green Museumbrary”, a NTD3.2-billion project that carries local people’s cultural dream and Taiwan’s first co-construction of art museum and library, held its beam-raising ceremony on May 11 of this year. Moreover, the biggest exhibition infrastructure in Central Taiwan – Taichung International Convention and Exhibition Center (TICEC) – also had its beam-raising ceremony on July 6. It is expected that TICEC will bring its advantage of “front shop, back factory” into full play after the launch to provide local industries with an exhibition, sales and international trading platform that helps them increase business opportunities and industrial competitiveness, and push Taichung forward to reaching its goal of becoming an international exhibition city!

Director Chang pointed out that, upon taking up her official post, Mayor Lu has been taking a proactive approach to boosting the economy with the “three factors for Taichung the Wealth City” policy of “front shop”, “back factory” and “free economic zone”, and Taichung’s economy has been going up all the way. As of mid-June this year, the total investments in Taichung already reached NTD1,047.9 billion. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, 8 economic indicators of Taichung in the first quarter of this year were ranked first in the country. As the pandemic raged around the world over the past two years, in addition to launching the major construction projects and the MRT green line, the Taichung Shopping Festival has also broken the sales record of NT$29.1 billion last year, showing Taichung’s strong market and business opportunities regardless of the gloom of the pandemic.

Economic Development Bureau added that companies generally hold an optimistic attitude towards Taichung’s development and we hope that Taiwanese businesses overseas get the chance to experience the progress and friendly environment of Taichung. In the meantime, the city government will continue to complete various infrastructure projects to meet citizens’ expectations, and to realize the vision of “Wealthy Taichung, New Good Life”. It is the city government’s hope that Taiwanese businesses overseas will continue to invest in Taichung in the future.

Today’s meeting was attended by a number of guests, including President Tsai Ing-wen; Mayor Lu Shiow-yen; Legislators Chiang Chi-chen and Chiu Chen-yuan; Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin; Deputy Legislative speaker Tsai Chi-chang; Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-Hua; Deputy Minister of Overseas Community Affairs Council Hsu Chia-ching; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang; Deputy Mayor Linghu Jung-da; Director of Economic Development Bureau Chang Feng-yuan; Chairman of ASTCC Chiang Fu-long; former chairman of ASTCC Chen Wu-fu; President of World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce (WTCC) Wang De; Chief supervisor of WTCC Chang De-hui; Honorary President of WTCC and National Policy Advisor Hsieh Shih-ying; National Policy Advisors Lin Chien-sung and Yu Wan-feng, etc.