Taipei, June 27 (CNA) Taipei is mulling a civil servant exchange with Shanghai so the two cities can learn more about each other's approach to administrative management, a Taipei official said on Tuesday.
Chu Chao-hsiang, commissioner of the Taipei City Department of Civil Servant Development, said his department will inform Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je this week of its proposed plan to have civil servants from Taipei and Shanghai work in each other's offices.
The plan is for 2-3 civil servants to be swapped each time and work in each other's government for 7-10 days, Chu said.
Due to the sensitive nature of cross-strait relations, Chu said priority will be given to civil servants who work in technical departments, such as the Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Urban Development and the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation, which operates the Taipei metro.
The proposal comes before the Taipei-Shanghai forum which is set to open in Shanghai on July 2. The forum is expected to center on four topics -- community health, environmental protection, smart city and public service, and young start-ups.
The two cities signed a memorandum of understanding in 2015 to step up exchanges between civil servants, and those from Shanghai came to Taipei that year, while those from Taiwan visited Shanghai the following year.
Chu said officials from both cities have agreed that the "visits" were too superficial and have since discussed ways to make such exchanges more substantive.
