The government will restructure the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) from next month when it will merge with the current support office of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao).
The Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries is known as Forum Macao for short.
Forum Macao’s Permanent Secretariat is headquartered in Macau.
After Forum Macao was launched in 2003, the local government set up a support office as a project team in 2004 providing administrative support to Forum Macao’s Permanent Secretariat.
As a project team on a temporary basis, the local government has periodically extended the duration of the support office a number of times since its inception in 2004.
The support office will be abolished on July 1 when its role will be assumed by the restructured institute.
A new administrative regulation on the organisational structure and operation of the restructured institute was promulgated in the Official Gazette (BO) yesterday, after the government announced its decision to restructure the institute during a press conference on Friday.
The newly drawn-up administrative regulation will take effect on July 1.
Government-drafted administrative regulations, informally known as by-laws, do not require the legislature’s approval.
The Portuguese name of the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute, which was established in 1994, is Instituto de Promoção do Comércio e do Investimento de Macau (IPIM).
The restructured institute will be renamed Instituto de Promoção do Comércio e do Investimento in Portuguese, but its Portuguese abbreviation will remain unchanged as IPIM, despite the fact that “Macau” will be removed from the new name, according to the administrative regulation published yesterday.
The government is yet to announce the institute’s new official English name.
The Chinese name of the restructured institute will change to “招商投資促進局” from “澳門貿易投資促進局”.
The institute’s current Chinese name means Macau institute promoting trade and investment, while its new Chinese name means institute attracting businesses and promoting investment.
As in Portuguese, “Macau” will be removed from the institute’s new Chinese name.
According to the administrative regulation, the restructured institute will have three departments, one of which will provide administrative and technical support to the operation of Forum Macao’s Permanent Secretariat.
During Friday’s press conference, Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon, who is also the spokesman for the government’s top advisory Executive Council, said that after merging the current project-team support office with the institute, the operation of Forum Macao’s Permanent Secretariat will be supported by a permanent public entity, i.e., the restructured IPIM.
Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon (right) and Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) President Vincent U U Sang look on during Friday’s Executive Council press conference at Government Headquarters. – Photo courtesy of TDM
