The “3rd Council Meeting of the Industrial and Commercial Summit between Jiangsu-Macao-Portuguese-speaking Countries” was held in Macao on the afternoon of October 22. As a member of the Summit Council, the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao) provided support to enable the meeting to happen. Together with members of the Beijing-based diplomatic corps from Portuguese-speaking Countries, Deputy Secretary-General of Forum Macao Mr Ding Tian attended the meeting and delivered a speech on behalf of the Permanent Secretariat.

During the meeting, participants were briefed about the progress made by the related working groups since the 2nd Council Meeting discussing the Summit series. Participants in the latest meeting also exchanged views regarding the next phase of cooperation. Mr Ding said in his speech that all countries were now facing challenges amid the pandemic, regarding economic stabilisation and assuring people’s livelihoods. 

The “3rd Council Meeting of the Industrial and Commercial Summit between Jiangsu-Macao-Portuguese-speaking Countries” was held as part of the “10th Industrial and Commercial Summit between Jiangsu-Macao-Portuguese-speaking Countries”. Other series of economic and trade activities were also held on the same day, to help participants explore other topics. They included: promotion of multilateral in-depth exchanges in a post-pandemic world; discussion on further collaboration to overcome the difficulties brought about by the pandemic; and joint efforts to promote economic and social recovery and development. 

In his speech, Mr Ding said he hoped that – with the concerted effort and active participation of all parties – the Summit Council and all of the working groups would effectively carry out their respective tasks, in order to achieve the intended goals and push forward the economic and trade cooperation ties between Jiangsu Province, Macao and Portuguese-speaking Countries.

In 2014, participants at the “4th Industrial and Commercial Summit between Jiangsu-Macao-Portuguese-speaking Countries” decided to establish a Summit Council to address topics of common interest. The 1st Council Meeting discussing the Summit series, was held in the same year, and its members decided to create five working groups to promote cooperation in, respectively: trade and investment; education; agriculture; tourism; and fisheries. A sixth working group – focused on infrastructure development – was created, in 2017, during the 2nd Summit Council Meeting.All members of the Summit Council have worked to promote Macao’s role as a Commercial and Trade Cooperation Service Platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries. Fruitful results have been achieved since the establishment of the Summit Council, which has been supported by the governments of Portuguese-speaking Countries and their respective embassies in China. The combined efforts of all parties had contributed to strengthening cooperation and creating a more pragmatic and efficient multilateral communication mechanism.