Day of Portugal | Secretary of State announces improvement to Consulate services

António Mendonça Mendes (left) watches a hug between Vítor Sereno and Chui Sai On

The Portuguese Secretary of State for Tax Affairs, António Mendonça Mendes, the official representative of the Portuguese government for the ceremonies of June 10 (Day of Portugal, Camões, and the Portuguese Communities) announced yesterday that the Consulate of Portugal in Macau would soon offer the enhanced services of “Citizen Space” (Espaço Cidadão), a “one stop” service style desk where Portuguese nationals can take care of almost all the formalities related to public services in just one location.

According to the Portuguese official, the measure is one of several that the Portuguese government has been addressing to improve the life of Portuguese nationals living abroad.

“We tried to simplify the relation of the Portuguese living abroad to their country, for example we extended the “Citizen Card’s” period [Portuguese Identification Card] from five to ten years and we are planning [to open soon] in the consular services of Macau, a ‘citizen space’,” Mendes said during his speech at the Consul’s Official Residence yesterday evening.

During his speech the Portuguese State Secretary praised the government of Macau for the opportunity given to Portuguese nationals to live and work in the region, noting also the importance paid to both the Portuguese language and culture.
In his role as a representative of the Portuguese government, the official recalled the commercial and diplomatic relations between Portugal and China, noting Portugal’s commitment to the “Belt and Road” initiative – especially in what concerns the Sines Port, where a system has been established to ease the treatment and taxation on goods carried between the Portuguese port and all Chinese ports.

Mendes also had time to reaffirm that the Portuguese community in Macau is an example “being present [and contributing] in all sectors of Macau’s society and that has gathered trust among the local authorities,” he said, reaffirming the “extremely relevant” work performed by the Consul-general Vitor Sereno.

Meanwhile, the Consul-general, who hosted the event, said that now is the right time for Chinese investment in Portugal to take a more qualitative step, pointing out new fields such as the automotive industry and electric mobility as a field where Portugal possesses advantages that can be explored by Chinese corporations.
“It is time to give a qualitative step on [Chinese] investment in Portugal, focusing on the new creation of entrepreneurship in different sectors, namely on the automobile [industry] where we possess great capacity of installation of both European and Japanese brands. The cooperation on ‘electric mobility’ would be particularly promising,” Sereno said adding there is also a Portuguese interest in the participation of the creation of the Greater Bay area.

On a tourism level, he said, “we can help with the creation of multi-destination itineraries on the China-Portugal exchange.”

Similarly to what happened back in 2016, the Consul-general took the opportunity of the soon-to-start Football World Cup to offer yesterday to the Chief Executive (CE), Chui Sai On, a Portuguese national team personalized jersey, expressing hopes that, as in 2016 when Portugal was European Champion, this gesture will bring luck for the Portuguese team in the World Cup.

The CE reattributed then the offering with words of appreciation for the work of Sereno in the six years that he had been leading the Consulate in Macau.

Similarly as in previous years, Chui highlighted the “importance” of the MSAR for the Portuguese and Macanese communities as well as the roles that these communities play “on the multicultural layout of the region.” Chui promised to place importance on the Portuguese language and Macanese culture.