MEET TAIWAN Festival launch provides new showcase for industry innovation

National CVB MEET TAIWAN, organised by Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs and executed by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), this year hosted the MEET TAIWAN Festival, a global launch event, on 7 September, 2023. The launch marks the start of an interconnected series of business events scheduled both domestically and overseas throughout September. Nearly a hundred prominent figures from Taiwan’s business event industry attended the event. One year after Taiwan reopened its borders, the Festival provided an opportunity to showcase its business event industry resilience and ingenuity, notably the return of international buyers and financial inflows associated with major business events. This year MEET TAIWAN has also reshaped its brand image with its ‘Open Arms’ campaign. Mr Chun Hsiao, economic counsellor of the Bureau of Foreign Trade, said during the festival launch: “Taiwan not only welcomes everyone with open arms, it also invites foreign business people to keep an open mind, have an open imagination, and stay open to possibilities, creating infinite possibilities, together.” Simon Wang, president & CEO of TAITRA, added: “The MEET TAIWAN Festival celebrates business events according to business event DNA. The DNA concept contains four components: international, interaction, knowledge and future – each respectively represents inviting international business events to Taiwan, facilitating interaction between domestic and global industry players, knowledge sharing at the Asian MICE Forum, and collaborating with industry stakeholders to promote the Taiwan business event industry abroad and to strive for future business opportunities.” A theme song ‘MEET TAIWAN Open Arms’ was released at the event, accompanied by a music video promoting some of Taiwan’s business event industry attributes to the world. And a new mascot, PaQ, made a surprise appearance at the launch event. PaQ’s name is derived from the Taiwanese pronunciation of ‘open’. PaQ also carries a sustainability mission: For every embrace it receives, one unit of the Sustainable Fund is accumulated. Simon Wang led this call for sustainability with a first hug for PaQ. Taiwan’s robust business event industry infrastructure includes an exclusive 5G network-enabled intelligent venue Kaohsiung Exhibition Center, the culturally enriched and sustainably green International Convention Center Tainan, and the upcoming ‘Taiwan business events Corridor’ with the Taoyuan Convention and Exhibition Center scheduled for completion next year. Additionally, Taiwan is making great strides in the field of software enhancement. The Expo-Tech Programme, announced by the Bureau of Foreign Trade, won an Industry Partners Award from the global association of the exhibition industry (UFI) in 2023, highlighting the synergistic coordination between business events and technology. Photo: Simon Wang, president and CEO of TAITRA, addresses the inaugural MEET TAIWAN Festival