President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of August 31 with a delegation of international representatives who attended the 2015 annual meeting of the Taiwan Local Councils Representatives Community Forum (TCF). In addition to sharing with the visitors his experiences in promoting municipal development while he was Taipei City mayor, the president also briefed them on the importance of public opinion and local governance in promoting the central government's policy.
In remarks, President Ma said that the TCF was founded in 2010 by local incumbent and non-incumbent representatives, scholars, and experts to examine various issues faced by local governments. This year marks the second time they have held an annual forum, hoping that the academic community and local political leaders from other nations interact and share their experiences in local governance through this platform. While participants have discussed a wide range of issues during the forum, talks have been especially lively with respect to "civil participation," with the president emphasizing how meaningful the forum is in terms of exchanging opinions.
President Ma remarked that Raffaele Cattaneo is the president of the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE), an organization that was founded in 1997 by eight member states of the European Union and is comprised of 74 European regional assemblies with legislative powers. Maybelyn Rose de la Cruz-Fernandez is the national president of the Philippine Councilors League, an organization jointly founded by members of local legislative councils in cities and municipalities throughout the Philippines.
President Ma noted that the late US House of Representatives Speaker Tip O'Neill once said that "All politics is local," highlighting the close relationship between local politics and people's lives. The president remarked that during his tenure as Taipei City mayor, the Taipei Neihu Technology Park was being planned and the Nankang Software Park was under development. These two parks currently generate output value of NT$2 trillion annually, which is about US$67 billion, and have been instrumental in attracting talent to the city and creating a stable foundation for the development of the technology industry in northern Taiwan. In addition, the president said that a plan to promote the establishment of a public sports center in each district of the city was carried out during his tenure as mayor to make it convenient for people to exercise near home. These sports centers presently attract over one million visits by gym-goers each month and have been effective in encouraging city residents to get in the habit of exercising, said the president.
President Ma also mentioned that he actively promoted digital infrastructure when he was mayor, hoping to turn Taipei into a digital city. Subsequently, Taipei City in 2006 was singled out as the Intelligent Community of the Year by the Intelligent Community Forum, highlighting the city as one of the world's leaders in information technology. These experiences at the local level have been important in Taiwan's overall development of digital technology at a national level, the president said.
Discussing Taiwan's score in various international competitiveness rankings in recent years, the president stated that the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2015 compiled by Switzerland's International Institute for Management Development placed Taiwan in the 11th slot, up two positions from last year. Meanwhile, the Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015 compiled by the World Economic Forum showed Taiwan in 14th place, with Taiwan's rankings in the macroeconomic environment and the goods market efficiency categories (23rd and 11th, respectively) both improving. "This is the result of the cooperative efforts of local governments and the central government," he said.
The delegation was led by CALRE President Cattaneo.