Chingyu Yao

Director General, City of New Taipei

Biography

Chingyu Yao was a Taiwanese career diplomat for 15 years, during which time her work spanned a wide area, including the UN, North America and Europe, both at the Headquarters and during her tenure in New York. She later worked as the official Chinese–English interpreter and PR officer at the Legislative Yuan for two years (2007–2009).

From 2013 to 2018, Ms Yao was the principal advisor to the Taipei City mayor on international and cross-strait affairs, also acting as executive secretary to the Taipei City International Affairs Advisory Council and Mainland Affairs Council. In addition, Ms Yao was deputy executive officer at the Gender Equality Office.

Since December 2018, Ms Yao has been using her unique blend of experience—both domestic and international, executive and legislative—in her work as the Director-General of Secretariat of New Taipei City Government. She is recognised for her pivotal role of promoting SDGs on the local level and sharing the city’s experience of combatting COVID-19 with the world.

Also, Ms Yao is a long-term volunteer and board member of the Taipei chapter of the Columbia University alumni association.

Session details

Thursday 1 October

10:00 am

Responding panel to Keynote

SDGs and Cities - Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner - NYC Mayor’s Office for International Affairs

Moderator:

Michele Acuto, Director - Connected Cities Lab

Panellists:

Director General Chingyu Yao, City of New Taipei

Tony Pipa, Senior Fellow - Global Economy and Development, Brookings

Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner - NYC Mayor’s Office for International Affairs

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