The Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao and the University of Macau will hold a “Workshop on Teaching and Training of Bilingual Professionals for China and Portuguese-speaking Countries” on December 7 and 8. The workshop’s opening ceremony will be held at the University of Macau’s Wu Yee Sun Library Auditorium (E2-G012) on December 7 at 9:30am. The event aims to raise awareness of the advantages of Macao as a cooperation platform, and to support the development of a Training Centre for Chinese-Portuguese Bilingual Professionals in Macao.

The first edition of this workshop was held in Macao in 2015. This second edition brings together eminent Portuguese-language experts from several higher-education institutions and other educational organisations, as well as business people from China, the Portuguese-speaking Countries and Macao, to discuss the demand – in terms of the economy, trade, culture and legal sectors – for staff bilingual in Chinese and Portuguese. In addition, the workshop will promote the sharing of experiences regarding training of bilingual staff.

The workshop seeks to promote cooperation in the field of human resources among the Participating Countries of Forum Macao, as well as to stimulate exchanges on the development of a Training Centre for Chinese-Portuguese Bilingual Professionals and the positioning of Macao as a platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries.

Representatives from Confucius Institute delegations in Brazil, Mozambique, Portugal and the United States will be invited for this workshop, to discuss opportunities and challenges in the training of professionals bilingual in Chinese and Portuguese, and to exchange views on the teaching of Chinese language and culture to individuals that are not native Chinese.

The workshop will provide a platform for dialogue and exchanges between representatives respectively from the academic and educational sectors, and those from the commercial and industrial sectors. It will also enable eminent Portuguese-language experts at national and foreign higher-education institutions to share methodologies regarding advanced training in this discipline. This will help to support Macao in the training of bilingual professionals, in line with market needs, and boost Macao’s role as a service platform for trade cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries.