Li Keqiang confirmed to visit MSAR next week

China’s Premier Li Keqiang is to visit the Special Administrative Region between October 10 and 12, in order to attend the opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries (Forum Macao), the MSAR government confirmed yesterday.
Mr. Li is one of the national leaders confirmed to be attending the Sino-Luso forum. Other leaders from the Lusophone world include: the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa; the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, José Ulisses Correia e Silva; the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau, Baciro Djá; the Prime Minister of Mozambique, Carlos do Rosário; in addition to the economy and trade ministers from Brazil, Angola and East Timor.
However, African country São Tomé and Príncipe is not dispatching any representative to the conference, making it the only Portuguese-speaking country not to be represented during the two-day ministerial forum.
Thinking ahead
The opening ceremony of the 5th Ministerial Conference will kick off on the morning of October 11, presided over by Gao Hucheng, the Chinese minister of Commerce. Ministerial meetings will follow in the afternoon focusing on defining the areas and modalities of cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries for the period between 2017 and 2019.
A conference for businessmen and financial representatives will also be held on the morning of October 12, according to a press release by the MSAR government.
The announcement also stated that the presence of China’s Premier would be an opportunity to consolidate and further strengthen the role of the Special Administrative Region as a service platform for economic and trade cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries.
Inspection tour
China’s official news agency Xinhua indicated yesterday that the Chinese Premier’s visit to the city would also be an ‘inspection tour’ of the territory, while the MSAR government considers the Premier’s presence will be part of the efforts to build ‘solid bases’ of the ‘one platform and three centres’ policy.
In his speech for the National Day anniversary on October 1, the MSAR Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On stated that the conference “is a major event at the national level and throughout the Special Administrative Region of Macau,” urging all “social sectors” involved in organizing the conference to redouble their “efforts in preparing for the sake of meeting success” and to consolidate the role that Beijing attributed to Macau in 2003 with the creation of Forum Macao.
Since its foundation 13 years ago, Forum Macao has organised four Sino-Luso Ministerial Conferences, in 2003, 2006, 2010 and 2013 respectively.