Macau, China, Dec. 15, 2024 (Lusa) - Business leaders told Lusa that Macau's growing integration with neighbouring Hengqin (Mountain Island) and southern China was "a great opportunity" for Portuguese-speaking companies to enter the Chinese market.
The president of the Macau European Chamber of Commerce (MECC) explained that the leadership of the Hengqin special economic zone "really wants" to attract Portuguese-speaking companies. This is partly because the zone includes people "placed there by the Macau government who are aware of the advantages of this Portuguese flavour that Macau has. "
Rui Pedro Cunha recalled that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Guangdong-Macao Deepened Cooperation Zone was already studying the laws of Portuguese-speaking countries "to allow a commercial contract made in Hengqin to specify which law applies".
The leader stressed that foreign goods processed in Hengqin, with an added value of at least 30%, can then freely access the rest of mainland China.
According to the World Trade Organisation, since 2020, foreign consumer goods have paid an average customs tariff of 6.9% and a Value Added Tax (VAT) of 13%.
"This can be an extraordinary advantage compared to producing in Portugal, transporting to China and then paying duties on entry," argued Cunha.
The president of MECC said that Portuguese companies would have "a lot to gain from starting in Hengqin, even from a scale perspective", because China "is a gigantic territory", with 1.4 billion people.
Cunha pointed to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-M Macau Greater Bay Area as the region "most likely to succeed", since it already concentrates more than 11% of China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Greater Bay Area is Beijing's project to create a global metropolis comprising Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province, with 86 million inhabitants and an economy worth more than one trillion euros by 2023.
The Portuguese-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry president said Portuguese businesspeople should consider Macau "not as 600,000 inhabitants" but as part of a region "with a GDP 10 times that of Portugal and with prospects for accelerated growth."
Since "China can be scary because it's a giant country", Carlos Cid Álvares argued that Portuguese-speaking companies could "bet on Macau to make this triangulation with businesses in the Greater Bay Area".
However, Rui Pedro Cunha acknowledged that there might not be many interested parties, as "with the exception of Brazil and Angola, in some sectors, there may not be entrepreneurs with an internal dimension who are considering international expansion."
In the case of Brazil, Carlos Cid Álvares added, "85% of business is of such a scale that it passes directly through Beijing and doesn't need Macau".
Brazil is by far China's largest trading partner among Portuguese-speaking countries, and in the first ten months of 2023, bilateral trade rose by 8.4% year-on-year to $160.4 billion (€152.8 billion).
Even so, Carlos Cid Álvares, also president of Banco Nacional Ultramarino, which belongs to the Caixa Geral de Depósitos Group, believes that there are more peripheral Brazilian states "for which Macau and Hengqin could be extremely useful as a platform".
Rui Pedro Cunha believes that more promotion is needed, which was impossible during the pandemic.
"Now they are starting to make charming visits to make themselves known abroad," emphasised the president of MECC, giving as an example, in September, the visit of the Hengqin leadership to talk to the Oeiras investment promotion agency.
But, Cunha warned, companies should take advantage of "a great opportunity", because some of the special policies in Hengqin "will eventually no longer be necessary once there is a certain critical mass".
VQ/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
