Digital payment service providers from Macao and Hungary have agreed to work together on a new system that will make it easier for people and businesses in both places to send and receive payments electronically, according to a statement from the Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute (known by its Portuguese initials IPIM).
The letter of intent was to “establish a bilateral retail digital gateway ecosystem, facilitating the development of cross-border payments between the two regions,” IPIM noted.
It was one of 36 cross-border cooperation project agreements signed at last week’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and Europe (Hungary) Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference in Budapest, which was attended by officials from each of the three GBA regions.
At the event, IPIM President Vincent U outlined Macao’s advantages as a trade platform – including its free economic zone status, low and simple tax regime, and extensive overseas network. He also highlighted emerging industries in the SAR, such as financial services.
[See more: A high-level Macao delegation travelled to Europe in March]
The event also saw a Hungarian environmental company that established its GBA headquarters in Macao in 2022 praise the city’s favourable business policies and their close alignment with European standards, IPIM noted. The company currently markets its products to integrated resort operators and said that it intended to expand further into the GBA.
The conference was part of a broader initiative to deepen global economic ties under the GBA’s development plan. A similar event was scheduled to take place yesterday in Cairo, Egypt, to foster trade cooperation between the GBA and Africa.
Expanding Macao’s overseas influence is a major priority for the government, as Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai outlined in his 2025 Policy Address. Earlier this month, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office Xia Baolong urged the SAR’s business community to “vigorously expand [its] international business network” while broadcasting the “good stories of Hong Kong and Macao to the world”.
The conferences in Hungary and Egypt came on the heels of trade delegations from Macao and the broader GBA visiting Brazil, numerous other European countries and Vietnam. The push comes amidst turbulent trade relations between China and the US, which have spurred efforts by the central government to focus on fostering alternative markets.
