Macau, China, Feb. 19, 2025 (Lusa) - The secretary-general of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries argued on Wednesday that China's economic growth will create opportunities for the states involved in the Macau-based organisation.
"China continues to be an important engine of world economic growth with good prospects for cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries," said Ji Xianzheng, at a Lunar New Year reception for the organisation, which is also known as Forum Macau.
China's economic growth in 2024 reached the 5% target set by Beijing, but some analysts say that the economy is expanding at a slower pace than official estimates, due to weak domestic demand and a serious property crisis.
In a report released on 16 January, the World Bank predicted that the world economy should grow by 2.7% in 2025 and 2026 and said that the slowdown in the US and China is weighing on global growth.
In a speech, Ji Xianzheng said that "Macau's efforts" to open up to the outside world "will certainly bring new opportunities for China and the Portuguese-speaking countries to deepen co-operation in various fields."
In April, Forum Macau held its sixth ministerial conference, during which it approved a new action plan until 2027, focusing on new areas of co-operation, such as the digital economy and the blue economy.
Despite his optimism, Ji Xianzheng emphasised that ‘the promotion of comprehensive, mutually beneficial cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries depends on the joint efforts of the ten countries’ that are part of Forum Macau.
The organisation's members are Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Timor-Leste, Sao Tome and Principe (all since 2017) and Equatorial Guinea (since 2022) - all members of the pre-existing Community of Portuguese-Language Countries (CPLP).
Forum Macau was established in 2003, the same year that Beijing designated the city as a platform for strengthening economic and trade co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
At the same ceremony, the region's chief executive promised to "fully support" the organisation in order to take advantage of the territory's "unique advantages" as a former colony of Portugal with continuing cultural links and to "effectively boost Macau as an interlocutor between China and Portuguese-speaking countries."
Sam Hou Fai guaranteed that Macau will "strengthen bilateral openness with Portuguese-speaking countries" as well as "taking a more open and inclusive stance to intensify international ties and increase global projection and attractiveness."
Sam Hou Fai, who took office on 20 December, is the first leader of a Macau government to be fluent in Portuguese.
VQ/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
