On June 1, Mr Ji Xianzheng, the Secretary-General of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao, received a delegation of the Yantai Municipal People’s Government led by its Mayor, Mr Zheng Deyan. The two sides exchanged views on establishing closer ties and utilizing the multilateral mechanism of Forum Macao and Macao’s role as a platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (PSCs), to promote economic and trade cooperation between Yantai City of Shandong Province and PSCs.

In the afternoon of the same day, Mr Paulo Jorge Rodrigues do Espírito Santo, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao, participated and delivered a speech in the Yantai-Macao Dialogue on “Green and Low-carbon Development for a Win-win Future” organized by the Yantai Municipal People’s Government.

Deputy Secretary-General Santo pointed out in his speech that Yantai is one of the first 14 coastal cities in China to open up to the outside world, a “Golden City” in terms of investment environment and Asia’s only “International Vine and Wine City” recognized by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). In this regard, the city has the ability to provide tremendous business opportunities for its business partners and potential investors from different regions, including PSCs and Macao. He stated his belief that this dialogue will be beneficial to the promotion of the wine industry and agricultural products policies of PSCs, as well as to the exploration of new cooperation between China and PSCs in other economic and trade areas, which will contribute to the sustainable development of cooperation between China and PSCs and further bolster the access of PSCs’ products to the market in Mainland China. He also underlined that Forum Macao will fully assume its role as a bridge, capitalizing on Macao’s platform to facilitate business exchanges between Yantai, Macao and PSCs and develop win-win cooperation.

The meeting was attended by: Representative of Angola, Mr Agostinho João António dos Santos; and Representative of Portugal, Ms Márcia Cordeiro Guerreiro, etc.