Representatives from the eight Portuguese-speaking member countries of Forum Macau will travel to Macau in search of Chinese partners and investments at the International Forum on Investment and Infrastructure Construction (IICF), on 1 and 2 June.

A statement from the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) said participants from Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde (Cape Verde), Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste (East Timor) will discuss cooperation with leaders and companies from China in the financial, economic and industrial sectors, among others, to seek partnerships by leveraging the Chinese knowledge and funding made available for projects in Portuguese-speaking countries.

IPIM President Jackson Chang announced that representatives of 43 states and regions located along the “Belt and Road,” from Portuguese-speaking countries and nine provinces and regions in the Pan Pearl River Delta Region are taking part in the Forum.

During the IICF there will be a ceremony for the official installation in Macau of the Development Cooperation Fund between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, which intends to finance cooperation projects between China and those countries using Macau as a service platform.

The president of IPIM also revealed that the meeting will be attended by dozens of equipment manufacturers from China that will thus be able to evaluate potential deals with the countries, regions and entities present at the meeting.

IPIM also noted that the meeting will be attended by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the African Export and Import Bank, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the Development Bank of China, the China Export and Import Bank, China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, the China-Africa Development Fund, the China-Latin America Cooperation Fund and the China-Africa Industrial Cooperation Fund.

As part of China’s Belt and Road initiative, thematic sessions will be held during the two days of the Forum to discuss, among other topics, infrastructure construction and industrial development, financial innovation and industrial investment cooperation, smart cities, and the development of sustainable infrastructure.

The IIICF is organised with the guidance of the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, the Government of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) and the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Macau, and jointly organised by the China International Contractor’s Association and the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM). (macauhub)