Consul: ‘Bilateral relations living a privileged moment’

Vítor Sereno

The Portuguese Consul General for Macau and Hong Kong Vítor Sereno, thinks the relations between Lisbon and the MSAR are currently in a golden age.
“The relations between the Portuguese government and this special region live presently in a privileged moment,” Sereno stated during an award delivery ceremony held at the House of Portugal Association (CPM) held yesterday.
The statement came days ahead of the much anticipated 5th Macau Forum Ministerial Conference, which will be held next week.
According to the diplomat, Lisbon paid a lot of attention to this event. Evidencing that was the number and rank of the Portuguese officials present, including the Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy as well as two Secretaries of State.
Sereno revealed yesterday that the Portuguese education minister, Tiago Brandão, is the latest addition to the list of government representatives that will be in Macau next week. Most of the officials will take part in the Ministerial Conference. During the bilateral visit, Brandão will discuss topics of mutual interest and the Portuguese language teaching in the region.
“[The] Ministerial conference will be attended from Portugal’s side by the Prime Minister, who will lead the delegation, but also the Minister of Economy, Secretaries of State for Industry and for Internationalization. They will be joined from Wednesday by the Minister of Education who will visit Macau on a bilateral visit. It is revealing that we will have the chief of the government plus four high ranked governing persons in Macau on the same week,” the consul said. “It’s a sign of the importance that we are giving to Macau,” he added.
The Portuguese diplomat also noted that the consul’s official residence, which he calls “the showcase of Portugal as a modern, competitive and good business partner”, will receive an exhibition from the CPM works showcasing what is being done by the institution in the territory.
The exhibition will be held from next Tuesday, the day that the consulate will hold a reception for the Portuguese delegation.

CPM delivers awards to best Portuguese language students

House of Portugal Association (CPM) held the award delivery ceremony for the best students in Portuguese language from both first language and non-first language backgrounds yesterday. The accolades, handed out on the day that marks the foundation of the Portuguese Republic, recognized groups of students from the Macau Portuguese School, other schools that teach Portuguese as a second language, as well as local universities. At the award delivery ceremony, the CPM president Maria Amelia Antonio, highlighted the “vocation” of the “casa” to be a live representative of the Portuguese culture. Antonio also expressed her wish that the several existing Portuguese groups could be “on the same page” in terms of integrating and coordinating their activities to promote the Portuguese culture.