Xu Yingzhen, secretary-general of the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macau), said Wednesday that this year, the focus of the secretariat’s work would be based on five elements, namely promoting trade and investment, promoting cooperation on production capacity, carrying out training of human resources, and supporting the development of Macau as a platform for China and Portuguese-speaking countries for economic and trade cooperation.
Xu made the remarks while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 14th regular meeting of the secretariat at the Macau World Trade Centre (MWTC) in Nape.
According to a statement by the secretariat’s official website, the aim of the work arrangement is to promote the implementation of the goals set at the forum’s 5th ministerial conference in 2016 in a “comprehensive way” and to “actively prepare” the 6th ministerial conference next year.
According to the statement, the objectives of the secretariat are to “grab development opportunities offered by the ‘new era’” by utilising Macau as the “bridgehead” for the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA). Other objectives are to “actively encourage” the “deep integration” of economic and trade cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, and to assist the local government in “continuously developing” its role as a service platform for trade and economic ties between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
According to the statement, during the meeting, the secretariat discussed the objectives set out in the “Action Plan for Economic and Trade Cooperation” (2017-2019) and the “Memorandum of Understanding on the Promotion of Productive Capacity Cooperation”, both instruments that were signed at the 5th Ministerial Conference in 2018.
In order to achieve these objectives, according to the statement, the secretariat aims to implement “pragmatic” cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries in various areas, and to expand its “circle of friends”, through more communication with more mainland Chinese provinces and municipalities, and also to enable more mainland Chinese companies to increase their knowledge of the world’s eight Portuguese-speaking countries.(Macaunews)
