Taipei City Government

On May 2, Director General Gourangalal Das of India Taipei Association (ITA) and Deputy Director General Aparna Ganesan paid a courtesy call on Mayor Chiang Wan-an to discuss issues ranging from exchanges to collaborations.

At the start of the meeting, Mayor Chiang praised Director General Das for his fluency in Chinese. The representative humorously pointed out that his mastery of the Chinese language is not as complete as the mayor’s proficiency in English. 

Citing a recent IMF report, the mayor pointed out that India’s GDP in 2022 saw a growth of 6.7%, placing it fifth in the world. He looks forward to further strengthening collaboration between India and Taipei City. 

The mayor added that the city government is willing to work with representative offices of different countries to organize cultural exhibition and showcases for citizens. For example, it joined hands with ITA to hold the Indian Spring Fair 2023 in mid-April at Civic Plaza. He also praised the team at ITA for its creativity, allowing visitors to experience Indian culture without having to travel all the way to India. Das promised to continue working with city hall to organize similar cultural exchange activities in the future.

Director General Das also took the opportunity to mention that many Indian expats working in Taiwan brought their families with them and regard the learning environment of their children as very important. He hopes that city hall will establish more bilingual schools to satisfy the needs of these expats.

Chiang remarked that a total of 120 public elementary, middle, and high schools are involved in Taipei’s bilingual education experimental program, which requires roughly one-third of the coursework to be conducted in English. The city government will also work on strengthening the quality of teachers and bilingual classes. He invites Indian expats to enroll their kids in Taipei’s bilingual schools as a way to learn Chinese and adapt to life in the local community.