The following was submitted by a reader that wished to remain anonymous.
In March of 2023 County Executive Marc Elrich traveled to Taiwan with a Montgomery County Delegation that included Council Member Fani-Gonzalez. As reported by mymcm, he was invited to speak at the 2023 Smart City Summit and Expo and decided to use the opportunity as an economic development-oriented trip. Previously unavailable to the public was the full itinerary of the trip as well as the costs associated with Montgomery County attending. Through a MPIA, originally requested in November of 2023 and fulfilled in February 2024, the full itinerary and associated costs are available.
In total, Montgomery County Government sent 5 representatives. There were also 5 business representatives. Associated costs were only requested for CE Marc Elrich and CM Natali Fani-Gonzalez. The Taipei Computer Association who sponsored the annual Smart Cities Summit and Climate Change conference in Taiwan provided the hotel and flight subsidy in Taiwan, which included a $3,000 flight credit, as well as lodging for both CE Elrich and CM Fani-Gonzalez. Meals and in-country transportation was mostly covered by hosts and local government officials. In addition to the subsidies by hosts and local government, below are the costs incurred by Montgomery County:
With 5 individuals traveling, it can be estimated that the total cost to Montgomery County was just under $20,000. If Montgomery County funded the business travelers, this would be around $42,000.
The itinerary is included below:
2023 Taiwan Economic Development Mission Itinerary
In October and November of 2023 County Executive Marc Elrich traveled to India and Vietnam. As reported by MoCo360 the trip was an economic trade mission. CM Evan Glass accompanied CE Marc Elrich along with 3 other representatives of Montgomery County Government and 28 Maryland business and academic representatives. All of the business and economic representatives were not from Montgomery County. Included in the MPIA request was the cost incurred by Montgomery County for CE Elrich and CM Evan Glass. A majority of meals and in-country transportation was provided by the hosts.
With a total of 5 individuals traveling with as government representatives of the delegation, the total cost was around $35,000. Of course, if the county government supplemented any of the business or academic participants, the cost was higher.
Below is the itinerary for the India-Vietnam trip.
2023 India-Vietnam Trade Mission Itinerary
