From October 10 to 16, 2022, the New Taipei City Government attended the 7th United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) World Congress held at Daejeon City, South Korea. The summit lasted 5 days and was attended by more than 6,000 participants, 27 international organizations, and representatives from 80 cities. As the only attending municipal government from Taiwan, representatives of the New Taipei City Government gave speeches and promoted the administrative achievements of the municipal government during the summit.

The ex-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, was invited to give a keynote speech during the opening ceremony of the event. Ban shared his insights on the topic of this year's summit, "Breaking Through as One" and called for solidarity between cities in response to increasing global tensions and division. The global pandemic, conflicts, energy crisis, climate change, and food crisis have proven that cities are inseparable and that cooperation between cities is crucial to overcoming these crises. Human-oriented development, dialogues, and partnerships between cities and collaborations aimed at devising new solutions are essential to securing peace, sustainable development, and a bright future for future generations.

During the opening ceremony, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol stated that the competition between local governments reflects the competitiveness of the nation and serves as an engine for national development. Local governments have contributed considerably to pandemic prevention efforts during the pandemic. Accordingly, President Yoon proposed the concept of the Local Government Era, advocating for local governments to be empowered and equipped with the adequate rights and means for economic development, thereby enabling them to respond quickly to local needs and build corresponding facilities.



Director General Yao Ching-yu stated that the UCLG World Congress is held every 3 years to gather global and regional leaders, think tanks, scholars, and influential partners and to provide local governments with a platform for international exchanges and collaboration. The 7th UCLG World Congress was held in Asia at the city of science, Daejeon, South Korea. A new generation of New Taipei City Government representatives, including Yang Ya-ting and Liu Yun-hsuan from the International Affairs Division, Secretariat, Taipei City Government, participated in the summit.



Mayor Hou Yu-ih also recorded a video for the summit's subforum "The future of multilevel governance for the effective localization of global agendas and recovery from complex crises," which was held on October 14th, 2022. During the event, Mayor Hou engaged in discussions with the Mayor of Sala, Carola Gunnarsson; the Mayor of Huechuraba, Carlos Cuadrado Prats; the Mayor of Sante Fe, Emilio Jatón; the Mayor of Makeni, Sunkarie Kabba-Kamara; the Deputy Councillor for International Relations of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Pilar Díaz; and the Human Settlements Officer of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, Martino Miraglia.



Several international partners, whom Mayor Hou had become acquainted with through sustainability forums during the pandemic period, also attended the summit, including the Secretary General of the Global Social Economy Forum, Laurence Kwark; Fernando Ortiz-Moya, a policy researcher at the (IGES) Institute for Global Environmental Strategies in Japan; and several representatives from Helsinki, Finland. To align with international trends, the New Taipei City Government has demonstrated a new paradigm for intercity diplomacy and participated in international events through diverse online and offline channels. In the future, the New Taipei City Government is expected to continue strengthening its collaborations with international organizations, adopting new concepts, and guiding the international development of New Taipei City.

Competent Authority: Secretariat × UCLG