MEET TAIWAN Festival Innovatively Showcases Taiwan's Event Industry

MEET TAIWAN, organised by the Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs and executed by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), hosted the MEET TAIWAN Festival Global Launch Event on September 7, 2023.

The launch marks the start of an interconnected series of business events scheduled both domestically and overseas throughout the month of September. Nearly a hundred prominent figures from Taiwan's business event industry attended the launch event, demonstrating Taiwan's thriving business event sector prospects.

One year after Taiwan reopened its border, the Festival showcased Taiwan's business event industry resilience and ingenuity, notably the return of international buyers and financial inflow during major business events. In 2023, MEET TAIWAN reshaped its brand image with the MEET TAIWAN Open Arms campaign. Mr. Chun Hsiao, economic counselor of the Bureau of Foreign Trade, said during the launch, "We would like to extend our friendliness to global MICE partners and look forward to all of you coming to Taiwan to experience our excellent environment, cozy services and diverse culture."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, highlighted, "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 Taiwan business event industry abroad and to strive for future business opportunities."

In the fiercely competitive global business event market, MEET TAIWAN consistently sets Taiwan's business event industry apart through innovative marketing strategies. For the first time, the original theme song "MEET TAIWAN Open Arms" was released, accompanied by an upbeat music video to creatively promote some of Taiwan's business event industry attributes to the world.

Moreover, the newly introduced mascot, PaQ, made its first surprise appearance at the launch event. PaQ's name is derived from the Taiwanese pronunciation of "open”, and the mascot will make periodic appearances at future business events. PaQ also carries a sustainability mission: For every embrace it receives, one unit of the Sustainable Fund is accumulated. During the Global Launch Event, Simon Wang made a clarion call to implement sustainability with PaQ's first embrace, turning sustainability into tangible actions within business events.

The Bureau of Foreign Trade leads MEET TAIWAN in collaborations with industry stakeholders to solidify a presence within the global business events market. Taiwan boasts robust business event industry infrastructure, including 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 makes great efforts to extend software enhancement. The Expo-Tech Program, 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. With software and hardware expansion support, Taiwan's business events will not only appear during the MEET TAIWAN Festival, they will continue to thrive, ushering in a new wave of business opportunities.