KAOHSIUNG, TAIWAN - Media OutReach Newswire^[1] - 29 February 2024 – As head of a delegation comprising officials and local businesses to KUMAMOTO Industrial Revitalization EXPO 2024, Deputy Mayor of Kaohsiung Lo Ta-sheng officiated the opening of the Kaohsiung Pavilion and signed an MOU on innovative startups with the Japanese city. On top of attesting to the friendship between the two cities and expanding bilateral exchanges, Kaohsiung's attendance at the expo also brought the city's cutting-edge chipmaking technologies and highly competitive tourism-related food products to the international stage. Kumamoto Prefecture Governor Ikuo Kabashima made a special appearance to express gratitude to the Kaohsiung City Government and the hope that more business opportunities can be created, thereby fostering closer collaboration in the semiconductor supply chain and strengthening relations between Taiwan and Japan.

Kumamoto Governor Kabashima’s friendly chat with Deputy Mayor Lo at the Kaohsiung Pavilion

Deputy Mayor Lo said that since the establishment of sister city ties in 2017, Kaohsiung and Kumamoto have developed diverse cooperation in tourism, education, culture, and industry. Over this period, Kumamoto has sent a number of delegations to Kaohsiung for a first-hand look at the latter's lantern festival celebrations, commuter pass program, and harbor-front development among others. During this ongoing visit, the Kaohsiung delegation aimed to learn more about Kumamoto's advanced green energy and circular economy facilities that are quite suitable as points of reference for the city's own urban planning. The newly signed MOU on innovative startups with Kumamoto marks the beginning of collaboration in promoting startup ventures between Taiwan and Japan. Kaohsiung expects to foster more exchanges and collaborations with other innovative startup clusters in Japan to assist the city's own startups in creating an international presence and bring about a convergence of startups from other parts of the world.

Since 2016, Governor Kabashima said, Kumamoto has been confronted with a myriad of challenges: earthquakes, the COVID-19 pandemic, and flooding. Yet, industry in the prefecture has managed to revitalize itself on the back of public-private partnerships. KUMAMOTO Industrial Revitalization EXPO 2024 not only attests to success in having surmounted the said challenges but also heralds the promise of Kumamoto's rising to a new peak on the industrial and economic fronts. Gratitude is warranted to the city government and businesses of Kaohsiung for their attendance, itself an act of solid support for Kumamoto's recovery.

Group photo at the opening event of the Kaohsiung Pavilion

This EXPO gathers key semiconductor manufacturers from Japan, including Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing, a major global CMOS supplier. Sony's representative also visited the Kaohsiung Pavilion, engaging in discussions to understand Kaohsiung's semiconductor industry development policies and investment environment. The on-site interactions were enthusiastic.

Liao Tai-hsiang, director-general of the Economic Development Bureau, Kaohsiung City Government, said that the Kaohsiung delegation brought seven businesses to the Kaohsiung Pavilion for presenting their respective products at the expo. They were in turn approached by a good number of Japanese counterparts for business discussions. In addition to enhancing their brand visibility, 4DMEN Technology Co., Ltd., Taiwan Valqua Engineering International Ltd., Gongin Precision Ind. Co., Ltd., and Advanced Echem Materials Co., Ltd. learned more about Kumamoto's semiconductor needs and broadened business reach accordingly, thereby helping deepen collaboration between the semiconductor sectors of Taiwan and Japan. Likewise, MAYUSHAN FOOD Co., Ltd., Joywell Cake Store Co., Ltd., and LE PONT took advantage of the occasion to present both Kaohsiung's delicacies and their own latest offerings. Indeed, Kaohsiung's attendance at the 2024 Kumamoto expo went a long way toward making the city's brand names better known in Japan. The city's meticulously planned series of exciting events also elicited a hearty response from Japanese businesses.

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