There were Lusophone elements in an infrastructure expo in the form of officiating guests and sponsored projects, a local official insisted yesterday.
U U Sang, president of the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), insisted on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 14th International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum and Expo that the event is the embodiment of Macau’s role in bridging China and Lusophone countries.
There were no Lusophone exhibitors, even though the IPIM maintained that it acts as a platform between China and Lusophone countries.
In contrast, officials from several Lusophone countries, such as Cape Verde and Mozambique, attended as officiating guests at the opening ceremony.
When questioned about this, U highlighted that participation by officials from these countries signaled official support for the event.
He emphasized that among the exhibitors – of which at least 90% were Chinese enterprises – some had participated in international projects about Lusophone countries, such as building roads and bridges.
Two exhibitors that the Times spoke to yesterday disclosed that they had conducted projects in Lusophone countries.
U added that many Chinese infrastructure constructors had invested in Lusophone countries through partnerships, acquisitions or mergers, hinting that these Chinese enterprises conduct businesses in these countries.
He also admitted that IPIM did not have much time to invite enterprises from these countries. With the border and the expo opening in January and June in the same year respectively, enterprises did not have enough time to settle their arrangements.
On the revivals of the local convention and exhibition trade, U disclosed that there are 10% more such activities in Q1 2023 year-over-year, with the number of exhibitions already recovered to the level in 2019. He is confident that trade will further recover as the second half of a year is normally a high season for MICE in Macau.
He also disclosed that the previous edition of the forum saw each of its participants spending on average MOP18,000 during their time in Macau, as opposed to the MOP3,200 spent by each general tourist.
This year’s expo is expected to involve over 3,000 guests, including ministers from various countries, key management personnel from financial institutions and international contractors, among others.
Attendance at this year’s event will be double that of the previous event, which was held in September last year. Of note is that the exhibition section will be expanded to be hosted at the exhibition hall. Previous versions only saw minor exhibitions that were held in conference rooms beside forums, seminars and roadshow sessions.
Prior to the commencement day, the Auspices Committee of the forum had its fourth work meeting.
At this meeting, Chinese Deputy Minister of Commerce Guo Tingting made three suggestions: align with the national development strategy and support Macau in building a functional platform for the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative; help Macau to achieve adequately diversified economic development and enrich the industrial chain of Macau’s convention and exhibition industry; and serve the development needs of enterprises and support the sustainable development of the forum.
Meanwhile, Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong made two suggestions: for Macau to continue to play its role as a platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries to better serve and integrate into the overall development of the country and contribute more to the joint construction of high-quality development of the Belt and Road and promote the new development pattern of the dual cycle; as well as achieve market expansion under the “Macao Platform + International Resources + Hengqin Space + Achievement Sharing” model.
