Sun Ziyu
The annual IIICF has once again put Macau’s platform role into the spotlight. Speaking of the city’s potential role in the regional “Belt and Road” Initiative, Mr Sun Ziyu, Vice President of the state-
owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), suggested that a development fund could be set up locally to invest in Lusophone countries’ infrastructure.
Macau Daily Times –
What’s Macau’s position on the country’s initiatives of building a modern Silk Road economic belt and a maritime Silk Road?
Sun Ziyu – I think Macau can play three roles in the “One Belt and One Road” [initiative]. One is just like this forum and also the China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Forum. So the first step is to link them with Macau’s platform. Second, the local government wants Macau to become a regional financial center, so why don’t you set up a Macau Fund, maybe with joint capital, or maybe with capital from Macau? Especially the mainland Chinese companies would invest through this platform, because they would have a permanent secretariat for China-Portuguese speaking countries. This will make it easier to coordinate at the top government level and help the companies solve a lot of problems. [If] you need policies to support it, you can through this platform – only in Macau, no other cities.
MDT – How will such a fund help Macau?
SZ – To do investment, you need money. The Macau government has some, but not a large amount of influence over the AIIB [Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank]. If you set up a fund, you should focus on “One Belt, One Road” relative countries and on Portuguese-speaking countries – it’s an advantage to Macau.
MDT – Why is it important for the CCCC to participate in this Forum?
SZ – We can use this platform to sign contracts with Latin American countries; a railway upgrade and maintenance project with Uruguay. Signing contracts is to set up a common link. Many ministers are in Macau and they can visit our projects, like the Macau International Airport, which has CCCC as the main contractor; they can visit the Grande Lisboa, and also the C370, [a section of] the Light Rail Transit (LRT), even the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge site. So these ministers visit… it’s better to see something with their own eyes than hearing about it from others. We leave them with a very strong impression, give them more confidence, so Chinese companies get more opportunities. This is the main purpose for the platform. BY
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