On 8 March, the ECCT held its annual round table lunch with the Taipei city government. The event, held for the 13th consecutive year, was attended by Mayor Hau Lung-bin and senior officials from the Taipei city government.

The lunch began with a speech by Mayor Hau to members of the ECCT and their guests in which he outlined some of his plans for the development of the city. The mayor's speech was followed by remarks by ECCT Chairman Giuseppe Izzo and a round-table lunch. Taipei City Government Officials were seated at separate tables at the event in order to give ECCT members the chance to talk directly with officials about how to enhance cooperation and discuss ideas for improving Taipei city.

Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin said today that he will devote all his efforts over the next two years to launching ten major projects in Taipei. The projects, which aim to attract a total of NT$370 billion in investments and create 57,000 jobs, include an upgrade of Taipei's Sungshan airport, the completion of the Songshan and Hsinyi MRT lines, a fibre optic cable project, a cloud computing industrial park, a performing arts centre, a pop music centre and an audio and music industrial park. The mayor said that the projects will create a lot of business opportunities and urged European companies to participate.

In his remarks, ECCT Chairman Giuseppe Izzo said that the ECCT values its good relationship with the Taipei City Government and welcomed the opportunity to discuss areas for cooperation. The chairman lauded the city's modern transport and communications infrastructure, deep talent pool and good quality of life, which he said made it a very good place to live and do business. He also welcomed the mayor's commitment to environmental issues, saying that he was very encouraged by the central government's commitment to reducing Taiwan's carbon emissions because it is an issue that the ECCT is also very concerned about. The chairman reported that the ECCT's Low Carbon Initiative (LCI) will continue in 2013 after a successful start in 2012. The LCI promotes the best practices of European countries and companies and will seek local partnerships. In this regard, Izzo said, "We hope to work closely with the Taipei city government to find ways to clean up the environment, reduce energy consumption and promote sustainable business practices across a wide range of industries".

In the Q&A session following the speeches, Mayor Hau said that the Hsinyi line of the MRT will be completed before the end of 2013 while the Songshan line will be completed by the end of 2014.