Taiwan officially opened a representative office in Montreal on Monday, its fourth office in Canada, in part to build closer ties with the technology hub and support overseas Taiwanese in Quebec.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Montreal, known in French as Le Bureau économique et culturel de Taipei à Montréal, officially opened in the largest city in the French-speaking province of Quebec.
The ceremony was hosted by Taiwan's representative to Canada Harry Tseng and office chief Rita Chen , who most recently served as Taiwan's deputy representative to New York.
In a pre-recorded address aired at Monday's ceremony, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said the latest office in Canada showed Taiwan's determination to expand its relations with the North American country on all fronts.
Tseng said the opening of the Montreal office came in response to years of anticipation from overseas Taiwanese in Quebec and reflected the high priority Taiwan's government puts on ties with Canada.
The ceremony was also attended by several Canadian parliamentarians, including Judy Sgro, chair of the Taiwan-Canada Parliamentary Friendship Group, Pierre Paul-Hus, Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay and Denis Trudel.
MOFA said it chose Montreal as the site for its latest office in Canada because it is the largest city in French-speaking Quebec, and is known as a technology hub, notably in video game and artificial intelligence development.
