It is hoped that companies with relevant experience of providing their services at major international sporting events will submit proposals.

Taipei 2017 has set a deadline of February 18 for proposals to be entered, with a tender presentation and selection committee meeting scheduled for February 25.

The winning bidder will be tasked with ensuring that catering services will be of a high quality throughout the course of the Universiade, due to take place from August 19 to August 30 next year.

It will be the largest international sports event Chinese Taipei has ever hosted, having been named the Summer Universiade host in November 2011 by the International University Sports Federation, beating Brazilian capital Brasília.

The event will feature 17 sports, including swimming, diving, basketball, fencing, football, judo, table tennis, tennis and volleyball, and will be held in venues across Taipei, Keelung, New Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu.

A Taipei delegation, led by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, is currently visiting Japan to meet with key officials in Tokyo.

They will discuss how the city is dealing with the challenges of hosting a major international sporting event with the Japanese capital preparing to stage the Summer Olympics and Paralympics in 2020.

The Taipei delegation hope they will gain key information which could prove useful as they prepare to host the 29th edition of the Summer Universiade.

“The operations of large-scale public venues like Tokyo Dome and Tokyo Station are definitely models worth emulating,” Ko told Taiwan Today.

“Going forward, we expect this tour to pave the way for substantively strengthened city-level interactions and more opportunities for cooperative projects.”