Sino-Luso platform creating opportunities

More business opportunities have been created in the city in the wake of the implementation of the MSAR as the platform between Mainland China and the Portuguese speaking countries, according to the Vice-chairman of the Macau Importers and Exporters Association, Edmund Wong.
Speaking on local radio programme Macao Forum, Wong said that Portuguese wine, for instance, had become an essential wine in many local restaurants and noted that both the quality and quantity of Portuguese imported products have improved.
Owing to the significant growth in demand for Portuguese food products and wine on the Mainland, Wong said there has also been an increase in the number of local businessmen interested in promoting Portuguese products on the Mainland.
“Aside from the support from the MSAR Government, our Association has set up Portuguese exhibition centres in Jiangmen and Tianjin,” revealed the vice-chairman, adding that many local enterprises have also set up similar services in other parts of the country.
Although business on the Mainland is positive Wong noted that there is competition with other imported goods.
“We entered the market a bit later than others,” said Wong. “Take wine as an example: most people are more familiar with wine imported from France and Italy, so they would question why Portuguese wine could be as good as the others.”
Meanwhile, ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) and Spain subsidise their own products when entering the Mainland, posing challenges for Portuguese products competing with the pricing of imported products from those areas.
Regarding the cultivation of bilingual talent, Sandy Chan Ham Si, Executive Director of Perfeição Lda – which specialises in finance and law consultancy as well as translation services – pinpointed the current issue: a lack of Chinese and Portuguese bilingual talent is not only confined to translation but also in areas such as law, politics, economics, finance and bookkeeping.
Ms. Chan also expressed her disagreement with the government’s intention of recruiting some 200 bilingual talent, saying that the MSAR Government should consider the demand of the whole country rather than just the city.