Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) President Irene Lau Kuan Va stressed on Tuesday Macau’s role as a “precise liaison window” in a press conference about this week’s Macau International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF).
The 24th Macau International Trade and Investment Fair (24th MIF) and the 2019 Portuguese Speaking Countries Products and Services Exhibition (Macau) (2019PLPEX) will be held concurrently from tomorrow until Saturday at the Venetian in Cotai.
Lau made the remarks in a speech during a press conference about the two events at the Venetian.
Lau pointed out that the fair has been one of the signature fairs in Macau, which has been “enriching its contents in an innovative way” since 1996, adding that it has become increasingly “influential” in terms of “nurturing” international economic and trade cooperation, as well as “fostering” bilateral investment and cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs).
Three years ago, Lau pointed out, the fair launched its partnership plan and since then Beijing and Portugal, Guangdong and Angola, Fujian and Mozambique have been invited to be partners, which all have “added significance” to the fair.
This year, IPIM has invited Jiangsu and Cape Verde as partners to further “intensify” Macau’s role as “precise liaison window” and a commercial and trade cooperation platform between China and the PSCs, Lau added.
‘Fair-in-fair’
Lau underlined that in 2015, the PLPEX was held along with the fair for the first time based on the “fair-in-fair” concept, adding that after two years of cooperation, the PLPEX became an independent fair in 2017, with the focus on promoting the products and related services from the PSCs.
In 2018, the PLPEX exhibition area doubled to 6,000 square metres compared to 3,000 square metres when it was started, Lau said.
IPIM Executive Director Sam Lei Chou Sam noted in his speech that more than 50 countries and regions are participating in this week’s exhibitions and meetings.
According to the Macau Post Daily, Lei also noted that more than 700 enterprises and organisations will participate in the events.
According to an IPIM statement, the two events are in alignment with the nation’s development policies and new international trends of investment, adding that they will provide participants with an efficient networking platform for “mutually-beneficial cooperation”.
The 24th MIF is themed “Cooperation – Key to Business Opportunities”, covering an area of around 24,000 square metres with nearly 1,500 booths, the statement pointed out.
