In an infrastructure forum and expo held over the weekend, 39 cooperation agreements were signed, double that of last year, the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) disclosed in a statement.
The 14th International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum and Expo was held on Jun. 1 and 2. It saw 220 business negotiations that led to the aforementioned 39 deals, which equated to funds of USD6.7 billion.
The IPIM described the result as “further promoting new trends in international cooperation and new opportunities for infrastructure development.”
On the scope of the deals, the IPIM disclosed that they involved Portuguese-speaking countries and regions such as Southeast Asia, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau, covering fields and categories such as transportation, housing construction, electric power engineering, water conservancy construction, new energy, industry-university-research integration development, and talent training.
Fang Qiuchen, president of the China International Contractors Association, a co-organizing body of the event, said that this year’s forum drew more than 3,000 guests from over 60 countries and regions. In terms of number of attendees, this year saw the largest forum ever. The quality and capacity of the exhibition area has been comprehensively improved, he added, with professional exhibitions making their debut.
U U Sang, president of the IPIM, pointed out that the event has not only brought about new businesses to Macau’s construction, logistics and transportation industries, but also exhibited the multiplier effect achieved by the convention and exhibition platform, bringing business customers, usually with higher spending power, to surrounding industries in town, such as catering, retail and hotels.
During the forum and expo, the China-Lusophone Infrastructure Cooperation Green Development Forum was held parallel to the main forum on Jun. 2., hosted by the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao) (Forum Macao).
Over 120 people from the mainland Chinese and Macau governments, officials and diplomats from Lusophone countries, as well as representatives from financial institutions, advisory entities and related enterprises in China, Lusophone countries and Macau attended the forum.
Forum Macao Secretary-General Ji Xianzheng pointed out to the forum that infrastructure had always been a key area of cooperation at the Forum Macao, adding that action programs signed at previous ministerial meetings had all covered infrastructure cooperation.
He hoped that through this parallel forum, China and Lusophone countries can mutually share experiences in technology and development, as well as exploring the potential for cooperation. Meanwhile, he hoped that the forum would help both sides achieve more with green cooperation in infrastructure.
Maria Gustava, ambassador of Mozambique to China and head of the Lusophone delegation to the infrastructure forum, said that Lusophone countries considered Macau and the Greater Bay Area as critical to the trades with China and other parts of the world. She hoped that the forum would achieve synergies to improve productivity, energy efficiency and modernization, among other goals.
She added that Lusophone countries are open to Chinese investments and that they welcome Chinese enterprises to “fully explore Lusophone potential.”
