Co-organised by Training Centre of Forum Macau (Centro de Formação do Fórum de Macau) and City University of Macau (CityU), the Closing Ceremony of Workshop on Financial Cooperation for the Portuguese Speaking Countries (Portuguese: Colóquio sobre a Cooperação Financeira para os Países de Língua Portuguesa) and Workshop on Production Capacity Cooperation for the Portuguese Speaking Countries (Portuguese: Colóquio sobre a Cooperação da Capacidade Produtiva para os Países de Língua Portuguesa) was held at the Grand Ballroom at Hotel Grand Lisboa on 4 June 2017.

The Ceremony began with speeches by Secretary-General of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macau, Ms Xu Yingzhen; Rector of CityU, Professor Shuguang Zhang; and Representatives of the two Workshops, Mr Marco Aurélio dos Santos Rocha and Ms Augusta Vaz; followed by the presentation of Certificates to participants who have successfully completed the Workshops.

In his speech, Rector Zhang said: ‘With the substantial support from the Central Government and Macau SAR Government, the development of “One Platform, Three Centres” has achieved exceptional results, and therefore effectively promoting Macau’s economic diversity. Meanwhile, the “18 New Measures” announced by the Central Government and the “Belt and Road Initiative” have further brought into play the role of Macau as a service platform for economic and trade cooperation between China and the PSCs’. Rector Zhang highly believed that the Workshops contributed to strengthening the cooperation on financial services, production capacity, and trade between China and the PSCs.

Also attending the ceremony were Deputy Director General of the Trade Office of the Economic Affairs Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macau SAR, Ms Chen Xing; Deputy Director General of the Trade Office of the Economic Affairs Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macau SAR, Mr Wang Jiabao; Coordinator of the Policy Research Office and Counselor of the Commissary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Mr Ran Bo; Consul General of Moçambique in Macau, Mr Rafael Custodio Marques; Deputy Consul General of Angola in Macau, Ms Maria Cezaltina da Costa; Economic Counselor of the Embassy of Portugal in Beijing and Representative of Trade and Investment Agency of Portugal (AICEP) in Beijing, Ms Alexandra Ferreira Leite; Deputy Secretary-General (appointed by the People’s Republic of China) of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macau, Mr Ding Tian; Deputy Secretary-General (appointed by Macau SAR Government) of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macau, Ms Echo Chan; Coordinator of the Executive Office of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macau, Mr Hu Huajun; Representatives of the PSCs from Forum Macau; Pro-Rector of CityU, Professor Kuai Peng Ip; Registrar of CityU, Professor Sean Li; Director of Open Institute of CityU cum Secretary General of the Council of CityU, Mr Robert Chan; and Director of Department of Portuguese Language and Culture of Portuguese-speaking Countries of CityU, Dr Rui Rocha.

The Workshops took place in Macau and Jiangsu Province (Nanjing and Changzhou) from 22 May – 4 June 2017. Both workshops brought together more than 40 government officials, financial analysts, business executives, academics, government consultants, industry representatives and senior technicians from the PSCs, including Brasil, Cabo Verde, Guiné-Bissau, Moçambique, Portugal, and São Tomé e Príncipe.

During the visit to Jiangsu Province, participants attended two business networking sessions for production capacity cooperation between Jiangsu and the PSCs in Nanjing and Changzhou, and visited a number of government departments and companies, including Nanjing Jiangning Smart Grid Exhibition Hall, Nanjing Government Affairs Service Centre, Beijiang New Zone, Flon Holdings, Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute, China—Israel Changzhou Innovation Park, and Jiangsu-Macau Cooperation Park. After the Jiangsu trip, the participants attended a series of lectures related to the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, financial cooperation, production capacity cooperation, and small and medium-sized enterprises investment; and visited a number of government departments, banks and companies in Macau. Also, the participants had the opportunity to join the 8th International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum and Seminar on Production Capacity and Financial Cooperation between China and PSCs.