Over 50 co-operation agreements were signed during the two-day 21st Macau International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF), the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) announced on Saturday, the event’s last day.
The annual fair is hosted by the government-run institute.
About 380 business-matching sessions took place during the fair, 110 of which were scheduled through the event’s Online Business Matching Service Platform, according to an IPIM statement.
Held at the Venetian in Cotai, the fair was originally scheduled to take place from Thursday to Saturday but was forced to close its doors on Friday due to Typhoon Haima, which led the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) to hoist the No. 8 typhoon signal, based on what soon turned out to be a wrong prediction.
The fair attracted participants from about 50 countries and regions, according to an IPIM statement before the event. Portugal was featured as Partner Country while Beijing was Partner City – the first time the fair featured such a partnership arrangement.
IPIM officials announced before the fair that from now on the event would each year feature a Partner Country and a Partner Province or Partner City from the mainland.
The number of co-operation pacts signed this time at the fair was similar to that of last year, IPIM Executive Director Irene Lau Kuan Va told reporters on Saturday.
Lau said the fair’s business-matching sessions had been more efficient this year. “Participants were warned in advance about a possible typhoon, so many of them scheduled their business matching sessions on the first day,” said Lau.
However, Lau acknowledged that the hoisting of the No. 8 signal had had a “big impact” on the fair.
While also admitting that the typhoon warning signal had an adverse impact on the fair, Miquel Frasquilho, president of AICEP Portugal Global – Trade & Investment Agency, told government-owned broadcaster TDM on Saturday that the end result was “extremely positive”.
The 22nd MIF is scheduled to take place from October 19 to 21 next year. Next year’s Partner Country and Partner City or Partner Province from the mainland have still to be announced.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On and Jiangsu Governor Shi Taifeng on Friday signed an agreement on the setting-up of a joint co-operation park in Changzhou city.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tak told reporters on the sidelines of the 6th Summit for Trade and Industrial Development of Jiangsu, Macau and Portuguese-speaking Countries that Changzhou was known for its “rather strong” innovation capacity.
The city boasts two innovation parks, one set up in conjunction with Germany and the other with Israel.
(Macau News / The Macau Post Daily)
