In response to International Women's Day on March 8, the New Taipei City Government held both domestic and international forums in collaboration with Keelung, Taipei and Taoyuan municipalities to convene the Women's Summit Forum and create a blueprint for Women Power in the northern region. At the same time, the Director General of the New Taipei City Government Secretariat, Yao, Ching-Yu, represented Mayor Hou Yu-Ih to visit the New York City Government and accept invitations to speak at three forums of the United Nations non-governmental organization Women's Conference (NGO CSW67).



New York was the first city in the world to release a Voluntary Local Review (VLR), and New Taipei was the first to do so in Taiwan. New Taipei City and New York jointly signed the New York City VLR Declaration in 2020, and now some 68 international cities and more than 300 localities who have responded to join the call. During the three-year pandemic, these global friendships have been maintained without interruption. Director General Yao personally delivered Mayor Hou's invitation letter to Mayor Eric Adams on March 6. The New York City government attaches great importance to it. Ms. Aissata M.B. Camara, Chief of Staff for International Affairs at the New York City Mayor's Office, Mr. Dilip Chauhan, Deputy Commissioner, and Ms. Rena Abbasova, Mayor's Protocol Director, personally received the delegation. Both mayors have a police background and are promoting shared agenda issues including SDGs, urban resilience, and post-pandemic recovery, which made for warm and cordial exchanges, and both sides look forward to future visits.



The Local and Regional Governments' Day forum held by the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), an important official event of CSW 67, invited New Taipei as the sole East Asian city to co-publish the declaration following the meeting. Speakers included former President of the United Nations General Assembly Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women Ms. Anita Biharis, Senior Director of the Carter Center Ms. Laura Neuman, Secretary-General of Habitat International Coalition (HIC), Ms. Yolande Hendler, Secretary-General of UCLG, Ms. Emilia Saiz, and other female leaders of international organizations gathered, presenting a rare opportunity for all. UCLG also invited New Taipei to share its progress in SDG VLR at the LRG Day Forum at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in 2021, evincing how New Taipei's contributions in international organizations are highly valued.



In addition, Director General Yao also shared that since Mayor Hou took office in 2018, New Taipei City Government has the highest percentage of female heads of departments among the major six municipalities, and has integrated gender issues into the UN concepts of sustainable development and received international attention. At the parallel forum co-hosted by the International Council of Social Welfare (ICSW) Taiwan Branch, the Global Women Entrepreneurs and Peace Alliance (GWEPA), and the Taiwan Branch of the Women's Federation for World Peace (WFWP), New Taipei shared on achievements in implementing gender equality to the world, including the Economic Development Department's Enterprise Classic and Woman Power Award, the Social Welfare Department's Gender Equality 1/3 Revolution Action Plan, the Labor Department's gender stereotype promotional video, the Department of Information's Women Power Series activities, the Education Department's STEAM education program, and the Secretariat's Creating All-Age-Friendly Inclusive Restrooms and Gender-Equality Centers Project.

The Secretariat added that the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women NGO CSW67 Forum will be held from March 5 to 17, 2023 in New York, USA, for a duration of 13 days. This is the first physical meeting after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic starting in 2019. The theme of this year's NGO CSW meeting is "Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls." This will herald the largest gathering of global feminists, scholars, government officials, and policy makers aimed at evaluating progress in gender equality, updating gender equality goals, and planning new blueprints for progress. Every year, the NGO CSW meeting attracts more than 27,000 participants from 142 countries around the world, with more than 5,000 international organizations and NGOs holding over 700 side and parallel events in New York.

In addition to attending international conferences, the delegation's mission to the United States includes visits to the New York City government, Facebook's Meta technology headquarters, the Marshall Islands' Permanent Representative to the United Nations, the Climate School and School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, the MIT Media Lab, and representatives from the Boston area's industry, government, and academia. These international partners reflect the Mayor of New Taipei City's successful efforts in promoting city diplomacy over the past five years, and commitment to engagement in more physical exchanges in the post-pandemic era.