‘Maturing’ Forum Macau celebrates 15 years

Aspect of the seminar held yesterday

The Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries – Macao (Forum Macau) is, “after 15 years and in resemblance to humans, in maturing stage.”

Those were the words that the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macau, Xu Yingzhen, used to describe the current status of the organization whose job it is to promote Macau as a platform for economic cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries.

Xu was speaking at the opening ceremony of a seminar yesterday morning at the Four Seasons Hotel Macau to mark the 15th anniversary of Forum Macau.

The seminar reviewed the Forum’s work over the past 15 years and invited debate on new perspectives, approaches, policies and developments in this space.

In her opening speech, Xu acknowledged that Forum Macau still has a long way to go to complete its duties and responsibilities.

“It is true that we still have a long way to go and we need to concentrate more effort to reach new outcomes,” she said, adding that the organization would “inject new vitality so the Forum Macau can obtain success in this new era.”

Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong recalled the first speech of the original signing ceremony that created Forum Macau, in which it was said that the creation of the Forum “opened a new page [for Portuguese-speaking countries’ relations with China].”

Leong said the creation of a forum between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries occupies “a highlight position in the strategy defined by the central government, and allows Macau to enhance its advantages to promote the development and diversification of the economy.”

Leong also noted the ongoing construction of the Service Center Complex as well as the transfer of the Cooperation Fund to Macau. Another important step towards diversification that was directly attributable to Forum Macau’s activities was the central government’s attribution of the Renminbi Clearing Centre to Macau, as noted by the Secretary.

Leong closed his speech with a mention of the “notable” results achieved in trade since the creation of Forum Macau, which he said “have been highlighted and praised by the central government.”

Another individual who commented on the “success of this mechanism [Forum Macau]” was Yao Jian, Deputy Director-General of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Macau.

Yao was quoted as saying that “trading between China and Portugal has increase twentyfold, and trading between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries has increased by one hundredfold.”

Yao added that Forum Macau has also achieved results in terms of “cultural exchange” and “lifting the internationalization of Macau and also its diversification.”

Yao highlighted the work of the “Macau entrepreneurs, who established places to present products from Portuguese-speaking countries in several cities of China, namely Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and others.”

The representative of the central government added that the newly announced China International Import Expo, which will be launched this year for the first time, will feature the joint efforts of both the mainland and Macau governments.

Yao emphasized the importance of the Renminbi Clearing Center and the Training Center for Bilingual Professionals. Both are important landmarks, according to Yao, who concluded with the hope that all parties can contribute more suggestions to improve the relationships between the countries.

On this topic, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce People’s Republic of China (MOFCOM) Sun Tong, said, “independently of the different areas, the level of cooperation between countries has been reaching new heights, which gives the impression that this cooperation has a good trend to develop.”

Sun said that this development can come from new areas such as environmental protection, noting that the MOFCOM is “pleased with the continual added influence of Forum Macau in the past 15 years, which produces synergetic effects.”

“In the future, Forum Macau would have more energy and vitality under the guidance of the new era socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics of Xi Jinping,” he said, which he added would be under the policy of “opening to the outside world.”

The last speaker of the event, Ambassador Malam Sambu, noted that it was a great opportunity to discuss the Forum’s future, and echoed previous speakers’ observations that relations between Portuguese-speaking countries and China had reached new heights, suggestive of even greater dimensions in the future.

Priority areas for investment and development include energy, infrastructure, technology and human resources to contribute towards the “common goal of serving as a springboard to […] fast, harmonious and rational development.”

As a final note, he stated the need to “share the profits of these cooperation efforts.”

Forum looking for future opportunities

Participants at yesterday’s seminar focused their talks on the perspectives and future opportunities for the Forum Macau.

Jorge Costa Oliveira, former Secretary of State of the Internationalization of Portugal and Partner and CEO of consulting company JCO, said, “more important than discussing the many works developed – and well – over the past 15 years is the need to look to the future, and future possibilities to make Forum Macau even more relevant.”

Oliveira noted that although the world knows that there are many opportunities for entrepreneurs globally and in China, it is still difficult to get the message across to them. He concluded that “there is still much work to do. […] The work that Forum Macau has done over the years has been mostly done at an institutional level.”

He believes this was the right choice and that such tasks were managed well, as they involved the member countries’ governments, public agencies and public entities in bilateral and multilateral relations.

Nevertheless, he points out that companies are the entities that import, export, and invest. As such, he urged Forum Macau to do “proximity work together with the business associations, doing work that [focuses] on companies to bring them knowledge of the opportunities in both the Portuguese-speaking countries in China and the advantages of partnerships between companies in order to create bonds that allow them to reach new markets.”

Henrique Horta dos Santos, the representative of Guinea-Bissau on the West African Economic and Monetary Union, and former Minister of the Economy and Finance of Guinea-Bissau, also highlighted the importance of “facilitating access to Forum-related support and investment funds by companies, namely SMEs” as a potential measure for future development.

On that topic, the Governor of the Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe and former Minister of Planning and Finance of the same country, noted the role of Macau and the Forum as a catalyst for the “acceleration of the process of expansion and opening China to the World [Belt and Road], noting the “great commitment of the country in contributing more […] in a better way to the ‘common assets’ [which result from the connection of the Portuguese- speaking countries with China].”