The “Online Seminar on Post-Pandemic Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Portuguese-Speaking Countries” was successfully held from July 20 to 26 by the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao, with support from the City University of Macau. The opening ceremony was held on July 20, with Deputy Secretary-General of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao, Mr Ding Tian, and the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Director of the Open Institute of the City University of Macau, Prof. José Alves, delivering speeches.

Deputy Secretary General Mr Ding Tian mentioned in his speech that the pandemic is still having a severe impact worldwide, causing numerous difficulties for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. He said this was the first seminar on the recovery and development of the economy held by the Permanent Secretariat since the outbreak of COVID-19. 

Mr Ding said in his speech that he hoped that participants would be able to learn from each other, while actively discussing the international situation, industry development trends, corporate innovation, and crisis management. Forum Macao closely follows the development of the pandemic and actively uses offline and online methods to carry out relevant work under its framework, in order to promote further exchanges and cooperation between enterprises from China and from the Portuguese-speaking Countries, and promote the economic recovery and development of participating countries in Forum Macao, he said.

This seminar was the first organised by the Training Centre of Forum Macao this year, with 61 officials and business representatives from three Portuguese-speaking Countries – Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique – participating online. The participants conducted exchanges on topics such as economic development after the COVID-19 pandemic, strategy and innovation among small and medium-sized enterprises, operational resilience and crisis management, digital transformation, social responsibility, supply chain and logistics in the trade with China, and Macao’s role as a platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries.

Under the pandemic situation, this seminar has made full use of online resources to create a communication platform to effectively promote the exchange of experiences between participants from Portuguese-speaking Countries and small and medium-sized enterprises in China, including Macao, on post-pandemic development, while jointly promoting the economic recovery and development of Forum Macao’s participating countries.