The exploration of business opportunities for the services sector in the future Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Great Bay Area was one of the issues addressed on Friday at a seminar on trade in services between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macau) and the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), which was also supported by Business Federation of China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries.

A statement from Forum Macau said, “the services sector is an important driver for the growth of the regional economy,” and plays an important role in boosting economic and trade cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

During the seminar, the Secretary-General of the Macao Forum, Xu Yinzhen, said that one of the objectives is to explore new areas of cooperation in the area of trade in services and to seek new ideas for development within the framework of economic and trade exchange between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

The Deputy Minister of Commerce and Services of Brazil, Douglas Finardi Ferreira, speaking at the seminar said his country’s government values the Forum Macau platform and called on the need to strengthen relations with a view to driving the development of the electronic and technological sector.

The statement also said that the Deputy Secretary-General of Forum Macau and director of the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), Gloria Batalha Ung, restated the importance of Macau as a platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries in fundamental sectors such as finance, export trade, legislation and services related to the use of the Chinese and Portuguese languages. (macauhub)