In the morning of October 8, Tainan Deputy Mayor Sue Wang welcomed Mr. Tobias Koch, Christian Democratic Union Chairman from the German Schleswig-Holstein State Landtag, and his group on behalf of Mayor Huang Wei-che. The delegation was invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to attend the National Day celebrations. Schleswig-Holstein State has been enhancing high-speed internet infrastructure and promoting smart city policies in recent years, and is a key renewable energy development area in Germany. The German delegation took some time from their busy schedule to visit Tainan City Government, which has similar development objectives. Both parties exchanged their respective policy launching experiences during the meeting. Economic Development Bureau Deputy Director Xiao Fu-ren, Department of Information and International Relations Director Liu Yi-ling, and Smart Development Center Director Lin Yi-zhuang were present on behalf of Tainan City Government.
Deputy Mayor Wang remarked that Tainan, the oldest city in Taiwan, is the location where visitors can experience the complete Taiwan history, thus the saying "to truly know Taiwan, you must visit Tainan". The city has recently restored the Old Julius Mannich & Co Merchant House, which is historical proof that German merchants conducted international trade here during the 18th century. Wang also pointed out that in addition to preserving its historical past, Tainan is dedicated to developing technology and innovation, especially in green energy. The city has successfully rolled out the Solar City Project, and this year Google is building a data center here and will be procuring green energy locally. This demonstrates Tainan's potential in green energy development.
Mr. Koch expressed that Tainan and Schleswig-Holstein State share similarities: both have highly developed agriculture and are actively working on high tech R&D, especially the field of green energy. While Schleswig-Holstein State uses wind energy and Tainan uses solar energy, both sides will eventually have to overcome challenges related to storage, smart grid installment, and system integration. So in the future, they can have further exchanges on these issues. During the meeting, the German delegate members and Tainan City Government team also talked about local government structures, governance challenges, aging society issues, social welfare programs for young children, and PV opto-electronic development.
Germany is a federation where each state enjoys a high level of autonomy. Schleswig-Holstein State is the most northern state in the country, bordering Denmark and the Baltic Sea. It has a population of nearly 2.9 million, and its major cities include the capital Kiel and Lübeck. Schleswig-Holstein State is a major renewable energy development zone in Germany. In 2014, it was the first to achieve 100% renewable energy supply in the country. The State government set a goal to reduce carbon emissions by 40% in 2020, and to largely rely on renewable energy as an energy source. The State is also actively setting up fiberglass wires to establish a high-speed broadband internet in order to fulfill the objective of becoming a digital government and complete industry digitalization.
Currently Schleswig-Holstein State is governed by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the party Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel is affiliated with. The visiting delegation in Tainan includes State Landtag Christian Democratic Union Chair Mr. Tobias Koch, Vice Chair Ms. Katja Rathja-Hoffmann, Landtag member Mr. Heiner Rickers, and Kreis Ostholstein District Administrator and President of the German County Association Mr. Reinhard Sager.