Cooperation | Portuguese medical institute opens European market for local firms

Portugal’s Institute of Traditional Medicine (IMT) has collaborated with the Hengqin-based Guangdong-
Macau Traditional Chinese Medicine Technology Industrial Park to establish an international exchange and cooperation centre within the park, which aims to promote Chinese medicine into the European market.
The center was unveiled to the public in an inaugural ceremony on Tuesday. Yesterday, representatives from mainland China, Portugal and Brazil inked multiple partnership agreements over the bilateral cooperation.
Frederico Carvalho, training and qualification director at IMT, told the media that Portugal was the first European country to have enforced regulation for seven Chinese medicine therapies. He expressed his belief that Macau was an ideal location from which to open the European market to Chinese investors, given its role as a platform for the Portuguese-speaking countries.
Also priding his nation upon its broad knowledge of Europe’s medical scene, Carvalho claimed that the West was curious not only about Chinese medicine, but also about the traditional ways in which people in China maintain their well-being and health over the years.
IMT’s local branch was set up at the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute on June 11, with almost all its staff from Portugal. The consultancy provider does not intend to sell products in the city. Instead, it aims to provide healthcare-related training for local practitioners, and to serve as an agency for companies seeking to expand into the European market.
Lu Hong, currently in charge of the industrial park in Hengqin, told media after the ceremony that the authorities were recruiting business operators both in the city and in the mainland. At the moment, around 10 local enterprises are in talks with them. However, interested mainland entrepreneurs have to register in Macau in order to launch their business in the park, according to the entry prerequisites set by both governments.
The medicine development-focused park commenced operations last July. Staff reporter