The 6th Forum Macao Ministerial Conference has announced a new three-year plan of action, specifying cooperation in four new areas – poverty reduction, climate change response, sustainable development and the blue economy.
The latter relies on sustainable development of ocean resources to support economic growth, better job opportunities and improved ocean ecosystem health, and is especially relevant to Forum Macao’s member countries, all of whom have coastlines, some of them extensive.
The new areas of cooperation were outlined yesterday by the vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Li Hongzhong.
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Traditional areas of activity were also discussed, including the facilitation of trade and investment, expansion of industrial cooperation, the promotion of economic development and healthcare, and the growing role of Macao as a bridge between China and the world’s Portuguese-speaking nations.
Li pledged that China would use its economic development to help create opportunities for countries around the world, including lusophone countries.
Founded in 2003, the Forum Macao brings together nine Portuguese-speaking countries – Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tome and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste – with China via Macao, building a coalition focused on economic and trade relations and common development.
