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Ronnie Vicente C. Lagnada, the mayor of Butuan, Philippine led a delegation to visit Taichung City Government. Huang, Chong-Dian, secretary-general gave a reception on behalf of Lu, Shiow-Yen, the mayor of Taichung City. Both sides welcomed the establishment of long-term exchanges and collaboration in any form in the future and discussed topics including smart and sustainable urban development. The two sides look forward to further communication.
According to Mayor Lagnada, that when he and his team visited Taichung City in 2019, he was amazed by the urban construction of Taichung City and felt that Butuan City had a lot to learn. Therefore, the members who visited Taichung this time included various relevant departments of the city government.
Lawrence Lemuel H. Fortun, the deputy mayor of the city, also stated that they are committed to developing Butuan into a competitive, livable, smart, and sustainable city. The long-term goal is to build Butuan into the next Taichung City; in the future they look forward to signing a long-term bilateral communication agreement with Taichung City, so that Taiwan and Philippine can cooperate with each other and help Butuan a better city.
The Secretariat pointed out that Butuan is the big city of Mindanao in the Philippines, also the capital of the Caraga Region in the northern part of the island. It is the commercial, industrial and administrative center of the Caraga Region, also a strategic trade hub. In recent years Butuan City also ranks among the top in the evaluation by the National Development Council of Philippine. The city covers an area of about 817 square kilometers and has a population of about 360,000. The main agricultural products are rice, bananas, coconuts, poultry, shrimp and milkfish. The industries include food processing, wood processing, furniture, shipbuilding and construction.
