TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei and Seoul inked an agreement on youth affairs on Monday (Sept. 25), taking bilateral cooperation one step further.

Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) met with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and the two oversaw the signing of an MOU between Taipei City Government's Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission Chairman Yu Chen-hua (俞振華) and Seoul Metropolitan Government's Future Youth Planning Group Director-General Kim Chul-hee, per a Taipei City Government press release.

Chiang said ties between Taipei and Seoul have been strong since the two became sister cities in 1968. He expressed admiration for Oh’s efforts to make Seoul a friendly city for vulnerable pedestrians including children and the elderly.

The Taipei mayor said he has a similar vision of making Taipei a "sustainable and inclusive capital." He also mentioned Oh’s initiatives in youth policies including the "Happy Youth Project," which intends to boost investment in youth entrepreneurship 8.8 fold.

Chiang said he was pleased to be signing an agreement with Seoul and hoped to promote exchanges and shared spaces between South Korea and Taipei’s startup incubators.

South Korea's Oh said that Seoul is focusing on providing technical training to match university graduates with employment opportunities, increasing investments in youth housing policies, and developing more youth-related policies. In response, Chiang said Taipei Education Bureau has also established a specialized unit for technical and vocational education and is promoting youth priority in social housing allocation.

He said that Taipei is eager to learn from Seoul, especially as Taipei prepares to establish its own Youth Bureau.

Chiang traveled to Seoul in order to attend the 2023 World Cities Summit. On Sunday, he met with Han Cheol-soo, who served as South Korea’s ambassador to Taiwan from 1988-1991.

He also visited Seoul's innovation base and theaters on University Street to learn from the capital's cultural and artistic industries and use them as policy references for Taipei in the future.