All photos: Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China
The new leader of the government of the Chinese semi-autonomous region of Macau, Sam Hou Fai, defended the need for more cooperation between local companies and those from Portuguese-speaking countries on Tuesday.
Sam called for “improving the exchange and cooperation mechanisms” between Macau and Portuguese-speaking markets, to “comprehensively leverage exchange and cooperation at the private sector level”.
Macau’s chief government was speaking at a dinner with diplomats based in the territory and Portuguese-speaking delegates to the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese Language Countries.
This organisation, known as Macau Forum, was established in 2003, the same year that Beijing designated the city as a platform for strengthening economic and commercial cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
Forum Macau’s members are Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau,Mozambique, Portugal, Timor-Leste, Sao Tome and Principe (since 2017), and Equatorial Guinea (since 2022).
“Delegations arriving from your countries to visit Macau will always be warmly welcomed,” said the government leader.
Sam promised to support the travel of Portuguese-speaking delegations to mainland China, including to the Guangdong-Macau Deepened Cooperation Zone in neighbouring Hengqin (Mountain Island) and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area. The Greater Bay Area is Beijing’s project to create a world metropolis comprising Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province, with 86 million inhabitants and an economy worth more than one trillion euros by 2023.
Sam defended the need for “pragmatic cooperation (…) in the various areas” and emphasised the importance of Forum Macau’s new action plan until 2027.
In April, the organisation held its sixth ministerial conference, during which a new plan was approved. The plan focuses on new areas of cooperation, such as the digital economy and the blue economy.
Sam took office on 20 December and, in his first speech as head of the government, promised to “promote comprehensive and mutually beneficial cooperation” with Portuguese-speaking countries and to take advantage of Macau’s “unique special advantages”.
At the same ceremony, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, told Macau’s new government that the region should “continue to co-operate in all aspects with Portuguese-speaking countries”.
Xi emphasised that Macau is “the only place in the world with Portuguese and Chinese as official languages” and argued that the city must take advantage of “its uniqueness” to play “the role of platform between China” and Portuguese-speaking countries.
Sam Hou Fai is Macau’s first Portuguese-speaking head of government.…Read more by Moz editor
