The Chief Executive (CE) Ho Iat Seng will visit Portugal from April 18 to 22 on a visit that will be restricted to Portugal’s capital city, Lisbon, according to official information from the Government Information Bureau (GCS).
This will be the first time that Ho Iat Seng has visited Lisbon since he took office as the CE in late December 2020.
According to TDM radio, while in Portugal, the CE will meet the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Prime Minister António Costa, Foreign Affairs Minister João Cravinho as well as the Chinese ambassador in Lisbon, among other scheduled visits that also include a meeting with local students attending universities in Lisbon.
The CE will lead a delegation comprising several members of the government, including the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, and representatives across various economic interests and business sectors.
The same source also noted that the main focus of the visit will be to publicize opportunities for foreign investment in the Greater Bay Area and particularly to the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
The delegation will include representatives from the six gaming concessionaires, who will participate in a promotional event from the Macao Government Tourism Office at Praça do Comércio, in downtown Lisbon.
This event will be hosted between April 15 and 22 and will include representatives from the Cultural Affairs Bureau.
The event includes a light projection show featuring Macau that will be displayed on the façades of the Praça do Comércio for the week, with four presentations per night.
Ho previously noted that the local government would pay a “courtesy visit to the European Commission” in Brussels to promote collaboration across trade, science and technology, tourism and movement across borders between Macau and countries within the European Union.
Although the CE will be received in Lisbon as a “head of state,” the same is not expected to occur in Brussels, Portuguese magazine “Comunidades” (Communities) reported, citing a source close to government.
The same source revealed that it would be “almost impossible” that the CE would be received by the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, or even by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The only possibility on the table remaining at this point is for Ho to meet with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrel – however, this has yet to be confirmed.
