The “7th Jiangsu – Macau – Portuguese-speaking Countries Business Forum” is being held in Macao between October 19 and 21. The event included the “2nd Meeting of the Jiangsu – Macau – Portuguese-speaking Countries Business Forum Council”, held in the afternoon of October 20 at the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel.

During the “4th Jiangsu – Macau – Portuguese-speaking Countries Business Forum”, held on October 23, 2014, the participants – including representatives of, respectively, the Jiangsu Provincial Government; the Macao SAR Government; the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao); and the Embassies in Beijing of seven Portuguese-speaking Countries (namely Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and East Timor) – jointly decided to establish a Council for the Business Forum.

The Business Forum Council held its inaugural meeting during that 4th edition of the Business Forum. Five working groups were created to promote cooperation between Jiangsu, Macao and the Portuguese-speaking Countries in, respectively: trade and investment; education; agriculture; tourism; and fisheries.

All parties in the Business Forum Council have, over the past three years, worked to promote Macao’s role as a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries. Such effort has followed the principles of equality and achievement of mutual benefits for all participants. Such steps have also made use of the complementary advantages of the participating places, and have sought to promote multifaceted cooperation. In the course of such work, several exchanges, visits and business matching activities have been held. The target has been to foster more efficiently cooperation and exchanges between all parties, in a wider range of fields and in a more in-depth way.

The “2nd Meeting of the Jiangsu – Macau – Portuguese-speaking Countries Business Forum Council” was co-organised by: the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the Jiangsu Provincial Government; the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao; the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute; and the Macao Jiangsu Chamber of Commerce. The participating parties reviewed the achievements of the Business Forum Council regarding exchanges and cooperation between Jiangsu, Macao and Portuguese-speaking Countries. Around 30 individuals joined the meeting, namely representatives from: the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao, the Embassies in Beijing of Portuguese-speaking Countries; relevant departments of the Macao SAR Government; and the Macao Jiangsu Chamber of Commerce.