Tainan has been selected to host the 15th Asia-Pacific Orchid Conference (APOC) in 2025, organizers announced in Malaysia on Friday.
Tainan Deputy Mayor Hsu Yu-tien (許育典) was in Malaysia on behalf of the Tainan City Government, leading a team promoting the city’s bid to host the event.
The team included Taiwan Orchid Growers Association director Chen Cheng-chung (陳澄鐘), association secretary-general Tseng Chun-pi (曾俊弼) and Alex Chang (張耀乾), a professor at National Taiwan University’s horticulture and landscape architecture department.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan Agriculture Bureau
Winning the right to host the conference is a recognition of Tainan’s efforts by the international orchid-growing community, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said.
The text “APOC 15 Taiwan 2025” along with an image of the Republic of China flag and pictures of Taiwanese orchids were displayed on a screen at the 13th APOC held at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching in Sarawak, Malaysia.
One in six orchids worldwide comes from Tainan, Huang said, adding that the orchid industry is the nation’s “most competitive” agricultural industry.
The city government has been hosting the Taiwan International Orchid Show in Houbi District (後壁) annually since the administration of former Tainan county commissioner Su Huan-chih’s (蘇煥智) term, he said.
Each year, the show attracts experts, buyers and visitors from around the world, he said.
Visitors from 43 nations attended this year’s exhibition, he said, adding that during the 10-day show from March 2 to 11, growers received orders totaling NT$11.3 billion (US$363.64 million).
The city government would work hard to prepare for the conference, the Tainan Agriculture Bureau said.
The bureau believes that as the center of the domestic orchid industry and with its experience hosting orchid shows, Tainan would successfully promote orchids, as well as the city, to the world in 2025, it said.
Tainan also hosted the triennial event in 2004.
The 14th APOC is to be held in Singapore in 2022.
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