Deputy Secretary-General of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao Mr Ding Tian and Deputy Secretary-General Mr Rodrigo Brum joined the “12th China-Latin America and the Caribbean Business Summit”, from October 31 to November 2, to boost economic and trade cooperation between China, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Portuguese-speaking Countries. The Deputy Secretaries-General led a 40-strong delegation composed of people from the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao, as well as participants in the “Seminar on Intellectual Property Protection for Portuguese-speaking Countries”.

The delegation travelled to the Zhuhai International Convention & Exhibition Centre, where the event took place, and also visited the China-LAC Trade Exhibition. A seminar on the protection of intellectual property was also held.

The “12thChina-Latin America Business Summit” was jointly organised by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the Guangdong Provincial Government, the People’s Bank of China and the Inter-American Development Bank. The Summit’s main topics were, international cooperation within the “Belt and Road” initiative and new Sino-Latin American economic and trade development opportunities.

The Permanent Secretariat’s delegation joined the Summit’s opening ceremony and attended three main meetings. They were titled: “Writing a new chapter on Sino-Latin American economic and trade cooperation, Together seize the new future of international cooperation”; “Mastering new opportunities from the Sino-Latin American economic and trade relationship and global economic development”; and “Boosting interconnection and intercommunication of Sino-Latin American basic infrastructure”. In addition, the delegation joined parallel meetings designed to help: deepen Sino-Latin American financial cooperation; boost cooperation and integration regarding the Sino-Latin American chain of economic value; accelerate the promotion of Sino-Latin American trade and services cooperation; and explore cooperation opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, among other things. The delegation was also present at the Sino-Latin American Business Exchange Session, where it established contacts and exchanged ideas with companies from various countries.

On November 2, the Permanent Secretariat and the China Council for the Promotion of International Tradejointly held a semi – presided over by Forum Macao Deputy Secretary-General Mr Ding – on intellectual property protection. During the event, Deputy Director-General of the Council’s Department of Legal Affairs Mr Liu Chao made a presentation on the general situation of intellectual property protection in China, on the work carried out by the Council on intellectual property protection, and on recent issues of particular relevance, among other things.

Close to 30 experts on intellectual property protection from six Portuguese-speaking Countries exchanged ideas and interacted with participants from the Mainland. Forum Macao Deputy Secretary-General Mr Ding said China was not only a great country when it came to the use of intellectual property, but also for the creation of intellectual property. The Chinese Government’s persistence in protecting intellectual property in accordance with the law had not only met international standards but was also a necessity in the domestic setting, in order to advance China’s development in matters of innovation.

Strengthening cooperation and exchange of ideas in the area of intellectual property rights contributed to the joint development of China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries as well as the countries and place along the Belt and Road. Mr Ding additionally said he hoped all involved could make extensive use of Macao as a platform in order to further cooperation. He also pledged that the Permanent Secretariat would continue to focus on its bridging role and advancing links between Chinese companies and those from Portuguese-speaking Countries, in order to promote fruitful, multi-party cooperation.