The Macao Polytechnic Institute (MPI) and the China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration have formally agreed to set up at the institute a centre for examining candidates for Chinese national qualifications for translators and interpreters, the first such centre in Macao or Hong Kong, the MPI says.

The parties will set up a facility for administering the China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters (CATTI), the MPI announced in writing last Thursday.

The institute says exams for translators or interpreters from Chinese to English will be held at the centre in June, along with the first exams yet of translators or interpreters from Chinese to Portuguese.

The MPI announcement quotes CATTI Office Deputy Director Wang Jiyu as saying the examination centre is envisaged by   the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Outline Development Plan.

The examination centre will serve all of the area, the announcement quotes MPI President Marcus Im Sio Kei as saying at the signing of the agreement.