In the first speech, the vice-president of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, Li Li Hongzhong, defended the need to strengthen Macau's role in the cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries for the "joint construction of an open and inclusive world economy".

For this purpose, the official, who is also a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, proposed incentives for exports from China, such as credit insurance, as well as more trade agreements to streamline the import of products from Portuguese-speaking countries.

Representing the Portuguese Government, the Minister of Economy defended the need to continue "to take advantage of the potential" of the Macau Forum as a "privileged platform for an ongoing and fruitful dialogue" between China and the Portuguese-speaking bloc.

"We wish that the Forum will increasingly assert itself as a true platform for cooperation at the service of common development, with tangible results for all", said Pedro Reis.

For the coming years, the "main challenge will be the growing consolidation of added value and the distinctive brand", with Macau having a "crucial role to play in boosting the activities of the Forum", focused on dialogue, cooperation and joint work.

The Portuguese government official recalled that the creation of the Macau Forum, in 2003, represents "China's recognition of the strategic value of the linguistic and cultural heritage in the territory and of the economic importance" of the Portuguese-speaking countries.

The representatives of the nine Portuguese-speaking countries, present at the sixth ministerial conference of the Macau Forum, highlighted the importance of the organisation as a mechanism for solidarity and bilateral cooperation, but also the need to strengthen the development of business opportunities, while praising China's persistence in maintaining this platform for cooperation between member states.

The Chinese Minister of Commerce, Wang Wengtao, said that the new 2024-27 action plan, to be approved this afternoon, will be the "driving force" for the development of the Macau Forum.

Headquartered in Macau, the Macau Forum includes China and nine Portuguese-speaking countries: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste.

Five ministerial conferences were held in the territory in 2003, 2006, 2010, 2013 and 2016, during which Action Plans for Economic and Commercial Cooperation were approved.

Initially scheduled for 2019, the sixth ministerial conference was postponed to June 2020, due to the elections for the Legislative Assembly of Macau, but with the covid-19 pandemic it ended up not taking place.

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