Department of Finance

Commissioner You Shih-ming of the Department of Finance (DOF), Taipei City Government (TCG) led the colleagues to visit Secretary-General Hsieh Shih-chieh of Kinmen Country Government, Acting Director Lu Qing-fu of the Finance Department, Township Mayor Yang Chung-Chun of Jinning Township Village Administration, and Offshore Flotilla 9 of Fleet Branch, Coast Guard Administration, Ocean Affairs Council today. They exchanged ideas on financial management, tobacco and alcohol management and investigation, and the Shwoo Website. The discussions were lively and both sides have been benefited a lot. The key points of the exchange are as follows:

1. Financial management and debt management: The Finance Department of the Kinmen County Government strictly abides by the governance principles of "Fiscal Discipline" and " Increasing revenue and Cutting expenditure". Kinmen County Government has excellent performance in financial and debt management. In 2022, the assessment of "The Program for Assisting Local Government Finance", Kinmen County and Taipei City both received first-class results in the "financial management" assessment. Kinmen County, which had no debt for years, achieved remarkable results in the "debt management" assessment. As a result, Kinmen County ranked third in the assessment of "The Program for Assisting Local Government Finance" in 2022. Taipei City and Kinmen County could learn and exchange relevant management experiences from each other.

2. Tobacco and alcohol management and investigation: The socio-economic and geographical environments of Kinmen County and Taipei City are very different. Through the visit, DOF gained an in-depth understanding of the practical work on tobacco and alcohol management and investigation of Kinmen County Government, so as to serve as a reference for tobacco and alcohol management. Because Taipei City has no coastline and no port, It is difficult for DOF to accumulate experience and actual achievements in the investigation of smuggled tobacco and alcohol from sea areas to coasts, estuaries, and non-commercial ports. DOF visited Offshore Flotilla 9 of Fleet Branch, Coast Guard Administration, Ocean Affairs Council this time to learn information on illegal tobacco and alcohol cases through horizontal contact. It is hoped that through joint cooperation, DOF can crack down on crime and protect the health of the people.

3. Public City Property management: DOF has been actively implementing "the Mechanism for Integrating the Supply and Demand of Municipal Assets", "TCG Plan for Soliciting Private Proposals for Revitalizing Idle Municipal Properties", "the Demi-Whip System of Property Manager" and upgraded TCG property management system to digitalize operations in recent years. With substantial experience in these endeavors, we hope that this exchange and sharing of insights will foster mutual progress and cooperation between both parties in the field of public property management.

4. Taipei Shwoo Website: Kinmen County Government became a cooperative partner in the early stages of the Shwoo Website's establishment in 2010. Among the 16 cooperating local governments and 4,336 cooperating government agencies, Kinmen County Government consistently ranked 7th in the number of transactions for the past three years. Kinmen County Government has dedicated itself to enhancing transparency in public auctions of scrapped property and promoting effective resource reuse. This visit aimed to gather insights from the long-term partners, which will serve as valuable opinions for the further advancement of the Taipei Shwoo Website.

5. On this trip, DOF also visited Yang Chung-chun, the Township Mayor of Jinning Township. Jinning Township is the main area for agriculture in Kinmen and National Quemoy University is also located in here. Township Mayor Yang not only used existing resources to develop relevant industries and services, but also developed leisure agriculture and fishery actively. Township Mayor Yang cooperated with relevant planning and design to increase tourism revenue.

DOF of TCG will learn from and share experiences through this business exchange. Both sides have benefited a lot with fruitful results.