Macau, China, Sept. 17, 2026 (Lusa) - The city of Zhongshan, in southern China, has said it wants Macau's help to export more biomedical products to Portuguese-speaking markets, it was announced on Thursday.
During a visit to the Chinese semi-autonomous region, the city's mayor, Yin Nianhong, said he wanted to «take advantage of Macau's platform to expand economic and trade ties with Portuguese Language Countries».
China established Macau as an economic and trade platform for Portuguese Language Countries in 2003. More than two decades later, the Government has broadened its focus to include Spanish-speaking countries.
According to a statement released by the Macau Government, Yin Nianhong cited as an example the support for the «internationalisation of products manufactured in Zhongshan», particularly biomedical products.
During his visit to Macau, the mayor also set as a goal «further strengthening cooperation with Macau's higher education and scientific research institutions to expand and strengthen the industry».
Yin Nianhong added that Zhongshan wishes to «accelerate integration» into the Greater Bay Area and support Macau's efforts to diversify the territory's economy, which is heavily reliant on tourism and gambling.
The Greater Bay Area is a project launched by Beijing to create a global metropolis that includes Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong Province, with a population of around 86 million and an economy worth over one billion euros.
The mayor of Zhongshan was speaking during a meeting with the leader of the Macau Government, Sam Hou Fai, held on Wednesday.
At the meeting, Sam Hou Fai argued that the two cities could «seize the development opportunity» presented by the special economic zone in neighbouring Hengqin (Mountain Island).
This zone, jointly managed by Macau and Guangdong Province, could serve to «attract large-scale technology projects to Zhongshan and thereby achieve mutual benefits», said the government leader.
In April, a robot for the diagnosis and production of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), developed in Macau and manufactured in Shenzhen, began to be officially used in Portugal.
This robot produces herbal TCM beverages and is based on technology jointly developed by the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) and a laboratory in Hengqin.
After completing a year of trials at a clinic in Lisbon, the robot, known as Herbizon, was formally launched on 17 April at the Egas Moniz School of Health & Sciences in Almada.
Although the robot is already in operation at 20 locations in China, the Portuguese trial serves as a regulatory benchmark, as the device is licensed in Portugal as a drinks dispenser rather than a medical instrument.
Following the trial in Lisbon, the team intends to focus on the mainland Chinese market for two to three years to gain scale, before returning to expand into Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking markets.
VQ/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
