Cities agree on further cooperation

Shanghai and Taipei signed three memorandums of understanding on Thursday at the 2019 Shanghai-Taipei City Forum to boost cooperation in smart city construction, district-level exchanges and eSports development.

Under one of them, the cities will share experiences and achievements in smart city construction, encourage intelligence technology innovation, support related industries and promote cross-city cooperation.

In another, Shanghai’s Qingpu District and Taipei’s Wanhua District will establish exchange schemes to share experiences to improve governance efficiency and promote development in both areas.

In the eSports area, there will be exchanges in talent and teaching staff cultivation and venue construction to promote the emerging industry in both cities.

The forum, an annual event launched in 2010 and held in rotation, took place in Shanghai on Thursday under the theme “Innovation, Cooperation, Future.”

At the opening ceremony, Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong said the forum had become an important platform for the two cities to learn from each other and progress together, and had brought real improvements in people’s wellbeing in the past 10 years.

He said Shanghai will continue insisting that people on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are a family and will gradually provide those from Taiwan the same treatment as local citizens in education, starting up businesses, employment and life, and promote economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan.

He said Shanghai will continue supporting Taiwan enterprises to take part in the China International Import Expo and support Taiwan businessmen to invest and set up headquarters, financial organizations and operation centers in the city, enjoying Shanghai’s development opportunities.

Shanghai will continue supporting youth from Taiwan to innovate, start up businesses and work in Shanghai, seeking a beautiful life in the city together with local young people, he added.

“We will continue to promote cooperation between Shanghai and Taipei in culture, sports, healthcare as well as science and technology to further improve people’s wellbeing,” said Ying. “I hope this forum will contribute more wisdom and strength to the prosperity and development of our cities and make new contributions to the peaceful development of the cross-Strait relationship.”

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je noted that more than 30 agreements had been signed at the forum in the past 10 years, covering cooperation in areas such as governance, education, culture, sports, tourism, healthcare, medicine and senior care. The two sides had also had fruitful communication in youth entrepreneurship, community healthcare, smart cities, culture, youth communication, environmental protection, civil services, public housing and urban renovation.

Ko said peaceful development is a common wish shared by people on both sides of the Strait while the forum was initiated to enhance goodwill by communication and to promote the cross-Strait to develop in a positive direction with a belief that “we are a family.”

“I wish the two sides can continue such friendly communication, deepen mutual cooperation to benefit our people,” he said. “I also wish the city forum will become a model for cross-Strait communication and provide further chances for the cross-Strait relationship to continue developing peacefully and stably.”

The forum also had sub-forums on medical technology development, biological technology industrial communication, youth entrepreneurship, smart cities and culture.