Ji Xianzheng, secretary-general of the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macao) emphasised yesterday the “spirit of cooperation for common gains” among the Macau-based organisation’s 10 member states – China and nine Portuguese-speaking countries – also during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ji made the remarks in a speech during a Spring Festival Luncheon hosted by the Permanent Secretariat at Hotel Mandarin Oriental in Nape for representatives of Macau’s Portuguese- and English-language print and broadcasting media.
Representatives from the Portuguese-speaking countries also attended the luncheon.
Ji, a senior official from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), said that the Forum Macao’s member states are committed to the “joint creation of a shared promising future.”
In his speech delivered in Portuguese, Ji underlined the “accumulated risks” that the global economy is facing right now such as “the countercurrent of protectionism.”
Ji also underlined the fact that Forum Macao will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year, adding that the Permanent Secretariat will “avail itself of the advantages offered by the Portuguese-speaking countries to support Macau in its appropriate economic diversification” drive.
Ji also pointed out the success of Forum Macao’s extraordinary ministerial meeting last year, themed “A World Without Pandemic, Common Development”. Macau was the main venue of the meeting.
Forum Macao was created in Macau in October 2003. It was initiated by the Central People’s Government and is organised by the Ministry of Commerce in conjunction with the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR). Its Portuguese-speaking countries comprise Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde (Cape Verde), Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste (East Timor).
Forum Macao represents over 1.7 billion people, or about one-fifth of the world’s population.
The Permanent Secretariat hosted a Spring Festival Dinner for representatives from Macau’s Chinese-language media last night.
Ji Xianzheng (front, centre), secretary-general of the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macao), poses with media representatives and the forum’s officials on the sidelines of a Spring Festival Luncheon hosted by the secretariat at Hotel Mandarin Oriental in Nape yesterday.
– Photo: Forum Macao
