The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong, yesterday began her visit to Portugal by meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Portugal, Zhao Bentang.
Following in the footsteps of a larger delegation, led by the Chief Executive, that toured Portugal last month, Ao Ieong’s visit aims to exchange views on the continued strengthening of Sino-Portuguese cooperation on social affairs and culture, with the area of Big Health as a main focus.
In the meeting with Zhao, the Secretary presented work related to the area of social affairs and culture within the framework of the development strategy of adequate diversification “1+4” of Macau, including projects to promote the development of priority industries, such as the health industry (Big Health) and “culture and sport.”
She noted a cooperation project in the field between the Polytechnic University of Macau and China Media Group Asia-Pacific headquarters, which will use technology from the Chinese-Portuguese-English Machine Translation Laboratory to translate news from the mainland into Portuguese and broadcast it to Portuguese-speaking countries.
The Secretary also mentioned that, during her trip, meetings will also be held with the Portuguese health authorities, as well as several higher education institutions and local museums, with some cooperation agreements to be signed.
As on previous occasions, Ambassador Zhao expressed his willingness to serve as a bridge for communication between Macau and Portugal, coordinating and reinforcing exchanges and cooperation between the two parties.
The delegation from the Social Affairs and Culture department includes staff from the cabinet of Ao Ieong, the director of the Education and Youth Development Bureau, Kong Chi Meng, the President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Deland Leong, the Director of the Health Bureau, Alvis Lo, and the Deputy Head of the Economic and Commercial Delegation of Macau in Lisbon, Lúcia Abrantes dos Santos.
