Mayor Hou gifts a Yingge ceramics gift set to Head of Office Lutz Güllner (left).

Lutz Güllner, Head of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan, paid an official visit to New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih yesterday (August 28) to welcome New Taipei City as a new member of the European Union's International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) and thank the New Taipei City Government for its long-standing and active support in international exchanges. During the visit, both parties exchanged views on economic and trade cooperation, connecting tech industry chains, and the international political and economic landscape, hoping to continue deepening partnerships between New Taipei City and Europe.
 
Mayor Hou shared that New Taipei City interacts frequently with Europe. Many bureaus and departments within the city government have visited Europe on several occasions to learn from the continent's experience in energy sustainability, smart technologies, and other fields. For example, the city government was an exhibitor at the Hannover Fair in Germany and traveled to Northern Europe to learn about long-term care and library infrastructure. Mayor Hou highlighted that Taiwan – while small in size – wields incredible development capacity. New Taipei City is currently encouraging over 300,000 businesses within its jurisdiction to "not put all their eggs in one basket" by expanding into international markets and diversifying their economic and trade positions.
 
Head of Office Lutz Güllner stated that, given the uncertainty cast by factors such as U.S. tariff policies, the EU places great importance on economic and trade cooperation with Taiwan. Beyond deepening partnerships with large corporations such as TSMC, Europe is particularly eager to foster exchanges with small and medium-sized enterprises. He highlighted that EU investment in Taiwan has already surpassed that of the U.S. and Japan, making the EU Taiwan's largest trade and investment partner. Güllner also praised New Taipei City for joining the IURC and expressed hopes to create more opportunities for collaboration in building sustainable and resilient cities.
 
Other members of the visiting party included Deputy Head of the European Economic and Trade Office Lucas Gajdos, Policy and Public Affairs Officer Tu Yu-an, and Press&Information Assistant Huang Yen-hsin. Mayor Hou was joined by Deputy Secretary-General Ko Ching-chung, Deputy Director-General of the Environmental Protection Department Chu Yi-chun, and Senior Technical Specialist Wu Cheng-yen from the Transportation Department.