The Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao) is focused on preparing the 10-nation organisation’s 6th Ministerial Conference later this year, its secretary-general, Ji Xianzheng, said yesterday.
Ji made the remarks in a speech during a Spring Festival luncheon hosted by Forum Macao (the organisation’s short name) for Macau’s Portuguese- and English-language media at MGM MACAU. Ji delivered the speech in fluent Portuguese.
Due to the three-year COVID-19 pandemic and schedule issues, the last Ministerial Conference, supposed to be held every three years, took place in Macau back in October 2016.
Ji said that the Permanent Secretariat was also focused on actively promoting the implementation of the upcoming Ministerial Conference’s Action Plan for Economic and Trade Cooperation.
Ji, who took up his current post in January 2022, said the date of the 6th Ministerial Conference would be announced soon.
Informed sources have told the Post that the conference would “most likely” be held in Macau in April, involving the participation of “very senior” representatives from the 10 countries – China, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Cabo Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
Ji, an expert in commercial diplomacy and former deputy director of the Department for European Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) in Beijing, also said that Forum Macao “will continue to expand cooperation platforms … and promote exchanges and cooperation between all participating parties in the fields of economy, commerce, culture and other areas, through the organisation of conferences, participation in exhibitions, organisation of colloquia, and carrying out visits to the Chinese mainland and Portuguese-speaking countries, among other things, in order to increase the effectiveness of commercial and economic promotion activities.”
Ji, who was previously posted to Venezuela, Spain and Portugal, underlined that Forum Macao marked its 20th anniversary last year, during which the Permanent Secretariat received around 50 economic and trade delegations from mainland China and participated in 14 economic and trade promotion activities.
Ji stressed that during its two-decade-long existence, Forum Macao “has laid a deep foundation for China, the Portuguese-speaking countries and Macau… to pursue common development and build a community with a shared future for mankind.” He also pointed out that bilateral relations between China and Portuguese-speaking countries are “developing steadily and progressively.”
Ji emphasised that bilateral trade reached the “historic record” of US$220.9 billion patacas last year. He also promised that Forum Macao will continue to support Macau’s efforts in establishing itself as a “connecting bridge” between China and the Portuguese-speaking world, as well as Macau’s appropriate economic diversification and integration into the nation’s development, “in order to enrich Macau’s new practice of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’”.
Forum Macao, which was launched in October 2003, resulted from an initiative by the central government in Beijing, in coordination with initially seven Portuguese-speaking countries and with the collaboration of the local government. São Tomé and Príncipe and Equatorial Guinea joined Forum Macao at a later stage.
Analysts have described Forum Macao as Macau’s most important institution dedicated to international relations, which has elevated the Macau Special Administrative Region’s (MSAR) international status and image.
Forum Macao’s nine Portuguese-speaking countries include one of the world’s major economic powers and one of the nine BRICS members – Brazil, as well as two of Africa’s emerging major economies – Angola and Mozambique. It also includes EU member Portugal and five relatively small countries which, however, are rich in natural resources such as petroleum (Equatorial Guinea and East Timor), cashew nuts (Guinea-Bissau), coffee (Timor-Leste), cocoa (São Tomé and Príncipe) and caviar (Cabo Verde).
The nine Portuguese-speaking countries have a population of 290 million. Forum Macao’s 10 member states account for around one-fifth of the world population.
Forum Macao Permanent Secretariat Secretary General Ji Xianzheng (centre, front) poses for a group photo with Macau-based Portuguese- and English-language media journalists, representatives from Portuguese-speaking countries and Forum Macao staff members during a Spring Festival luncheon hosted by the 10-nation organisation at MGM MACAU banquet hall yesterday.
– Photo courtesy of Forum Macao
