By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
The Confederação Empresarial da CPLP (translated as the Community of Portuguese Language Countries) has been looking at multifaceted and diverse opportunities to strengthen the organisation and ultimately to improve mutual cooperation among the members and governments, which are geographically located in different continents.
In efforts to connect these Portuguese-speaking countries, Macau province hosted three exhibitions on investment and business networking in October. In order to promote the four key industries, the 27th Macao International Trade and Investment Fair included three sub-exhibitions: the cultural and creative industry and science and technology.
Reports show that the trade and investment fair also invited the mainland’s Zhejiang province as its partner province. Pavilions were set up to showcase Zhejiang-themed images and a number of local products. Nearly 30 enterprises from Zhejiang participated in the event.
As Xinhua News Agency reported, the exhibitions were attended by nearly 400 enterprises from the four key industries of science and technology, high-end manufacturing, traditional Chinese medicine, tourism and modern finance. It was up 27.5 per cent from the previous year 2021, according to the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), co-organizer of the corporate event.
Lei Wai Nong, Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macau SAR government, said Macau would continue joining hands with mainland provinces and municipalities as well as Portuguese-speaking countries to further enhance connectivity between domestic and overseas markets, nurture new economic growth points so as to make contributions to the country’s development.
Leveraging the strengths of Macau as a platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, the 2022 Portuguese-speaking countries’ products and services exhibition displayed over 200 products with promotional events on the wine and culture of Portuguese-speaking countries.
Wu Zhiwei, CEO of Marmeleira Group, which does business of wine made in Portugal in the European Union (EU), said the exhibitions offered various support to small- and medium-sized enterprises in Macau, helping boost confidence and recover the local economy.
Covering a total area of 29,300 square meters, the exhibitions boast over 1,800 booths. For most of the participants, the exhibition demonstrated solid potential and offered opportunities for interaction and networking for food processing and for promoting private investments, as well as a chance for establishing public-private partnerships.
The Confederação Empresarial da CPLP official documents list Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor as the nine member states of the CPLP, and 32 countries and organizations as associated observers. In April 2021, it celebrated the 25th anniversary of its establishment and outlined new tasks for its future development.
The Confederação Empresarial da CPLP (translated as the Community of Portuguese Language Countries) was established in 1996 on the basis of Portuguese language and culture, and it unites all the Portuguese-speaking African countries with Portugal in the European Union.
