Canadian Trade Office Representative Jordan Reeves and Senior Business Manager Sylvia Shi visited Tainan City Government on May 18. Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che as well as Bureau of Education Director-general Cheng Hsin-hui and Department of Information and International Relations Director-general Su En-en welcomed the guests and both sides held in-depth discussions on international education.
To symbolize the friendship between Taiwan and Canada, the Mayor prepared a special orchid that is dyed into the colors of the Canadian flag via nanotechnology as a gift for the Representative. Huang also expressed gratitude to Canada for their support of Taiwan’s participation in various international organizations. Tainan provides abundant produce throughout the year and offers high-quality agricultural products year-round. The International Orchid Show, which has finally returned this March, and the Tainan International Mango Festival that will begin in June are events which showcase Tainan’s excellent agricultural capabilities to the world. When presented with the Canadian flag-colored orchids, Representative Reeves openly expressed his surprise in Mandarin Chinese. He was equally impressed by the fruit gift box filled with in-season fruits.
Mayor Huang expressed that the city has been actively promoting bilingual education in recent years and so far the teaching demos show excellent results. The city government is also focusing on building international education partnerships to help students keep up with international trends. Tainan is very proactive in its high school joint degree program scheme and strives to strengthen the bilateral friendship between Canada and Taiwan through education. Currently, Tainan’s Private Deguang Catholic High School and Tainan Hsing Kuo Senior High School have already signed joint degree program MOUs with Canadian schools. Students will have access to more diversified learning options if the collaborations are expanded in the future.
Representative Reeves expressed his enthusiasm at the prospect of working with an ally that shares similar values as Canada. He pointed out that Canada currently has 30 education collaboration projects in Taiwan and has signed MOUs with several Taiwanese counties, cities, and schools. Reeves hopes that they will be able to recreate similar cooperation models in Tainan. Canada is already working with Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education and will provide assistance in teacher training and bilingual curriculum development. High school students in Taiwan will have access to more online and physical courses in English as well as more opportunities to visit Canada.
Representative Jordan Reeves came to office in the summer of 2018 and has visited Tainan multiple times so far. Reeves was invited to take part in the Tainan International Dragon Boat Race Championships, and he selected Tainan as the opening city for the Year of Canadian-Taiwanese Innovators. This September, Tainan Art Museum will host an indigenous arts and culture event in collaboration with the Canadian Trade Office. The event will feature content related to the arts and culture of the indigenous peoples in both Canada and Taiwan. Everyone in Tainan is invited to take part in the festivities!