Secretary of State says links with Macau benefit Portuguese economy

Leonardo Mathias

Leonardo Mathias, the Portuguese Secretary of State for Economy, said during a visit to the city that Lisbon should continue to foster the growing trend of exports to Macau.
Speaking during a workshop yesterday, the politician stressed the importance of the MSAR’s role in strengthening trade relations between Portugal and China.
“The Portuguese economy is benefiting, since in the last four years there has been a 20-percent growth in Portuguese companies that export to Macau; over 346 companies currently export to Macau and 40 percent of those exports are food and wine products,” Leonardo Mathias said.
Before arriving in the territory, the Secretary of State and his delegation visited China and Hong Kong, and met government representatives from the departments of food safety and copyright protection.
“In the area of economic security, many Europeans are wary of certain products with the label ‘made in China’ as there is the perception that these products are sometimes not certified or are unsafe – for example, toys (…) We should fight those issues,” said the head of the Portuguese Economic, Food and Health Safety Agency (ASAE), Pedro Gaspar, who is also a member of the Portuguese delegation.
Vong Kok-seng, president of the General Committee of the Macau Consumer Council, met with the ASAE representative and stressed that food safety is one of the most important areas for bilateral cooperation. “Food safety has never been so relevant as now, since the tourism and logistics industries are developing a lot in Macau. This is even more significant given that Macau wants to establish a distribution center for food products between Portugal and China,” he said, adding that the center’s opening date has yet to be decided.
Leonardo Mathias will return to Lisbon tomorrow, and the ASAE representatives will stay in town until Thursday, having several meetings scheduled with representatives of public departments. MDT/Lusa