Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng and Portugal’s Minister of Economy Pedro Reis met on Saturday at Government Headquarters to discuss mutual cooperation initiatives, with a special focus on the health sector, the local government says.
Ho briefed Reis on Macao’s economic diversification strategy and emphasised opportunities he saw for Portuguese medical companies in the SAR’s emerging health sector, which recently welcomed a brand new hospital.
“With Portugal’s strong foundation in biomedicine, relevant enterprises could use the bridgehead of Macao and Hengqin to enter the Chinese mainland market,” he noted.
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Reis, in turn, promised to encourage more Portuguese enterprises to expand their businesses into Macao for the benefit of both territories. He also said that Portugal looked forward to helping develop Macao’s finance sector, another priority area for the SAR government.
Ho and Reis both referred to the long history and friendship between Macao and Portugal during their meeting. Reis thanked the local government for its efforts in promoting Portuguese culture and language.
The two top officials met in advance of Forum Macao’s 6th Ministerial Conference. The three-day event brings leaders from China and nine Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs) together to progress Sino-Lusophone trade and development initiatives.
