Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the leaders of 20 municipal governments on November 2. The participants stated their intentions on working together to promote Taiwan’s agriculture, floriculture, and tourism industries.
The 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition will be the next major international event to take place in Taiwan, following the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung and the 2009 Summer Deaflympics in Taipei earlier this year.
In preparations for the event, the city government invited representatives from other municipal governments to a meeting focusing on exchange and cooperation. Changhua County Magistrate Cho Po-yuan, Lienchang County Magistrate Chen Hsueh-sheng, and other leaders of local governments signed the MOU, promising their support for Taiwan’s horticulture industry, creative arts, and conservation efforts.
Hau pointed out that the flora expo, an event recognized by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH), could be described as the Olympics for the horticulture industry. He expects the event to draw eight million visitors to the city during the event period, including 300,000 to 500,000 foreign tourists.
The mayor stressed that the event would create output value equivalent of NT$16.8 billion for the city. He invited the municipal leaders to work with Taipei City, to make the flora expo the pride of Taiwan.
Seeing the expo as a great opportunity to promote Taiwan, the mayor extended his invitation to well-known performance groups across the island to perform at the expo, to attract the tourists to visit other parts of the country.