Zhuhai, China, March 26, 2026 (Lusa) - A new economic services centre between China and Portuguese- and Spanish-language countries will open an office in Brazil in June, with another delegation planned for Portugal, an official told Lusa on Thursday.
The deputy coordinator of the Economic and Trade Service Centre for China and Portuguese/Spanish-Speaking Countries, known as CECP, announced that the Brazil office has been registered.
Ng In Cheong added that another delegation was expected to open in Mexico in the autumn, while work to open an office in Portugal, which would cover neighbouring Spain, was progressing.
Hw was speaking on the sidelines of a visit by Macau journalists to the CECP, which was established in the neighbouring Hengqin special economic zone (Mountain Island) in December.
That same month, Macau's head of government, Sam Hou Fai, said the new centre was operating and providing "legal and accounting level" services to foreign companies.
The centre works with the Industrial Guidance Fund to attract companies to Hengqin.
The fund's value was reinforced in January from 10 to 30 billion yuan (from €1.25 to €3.76 billion), said Ng In Cheong.
Sam Hou Fai, the first chief executive of the Chinese region to master Portuguese, will visit Portugal and Spain between 17 and 23 April, on his first international trip since taking office in late 2024.
Ng In Cheong said the Macau leader would be accompanied by "more than a dozen" local and mainland Chinese companies, including nearly ten operating in Hengqin.
The goal is to help Chinese groups "understand the local market, conduct field inspections, [and] establish contact with local authorities and companies", he said Ng gave the example of a Beijing company that produced "high-precision ophthalmological instruments" for surgeries at Kiang Wu Hospital in Macau.
The company "really wants to expand into the Portuguese market and open a factory in Portugal," he said.
Portugal is "a great starting point for expansion into the European market", he said, because costs are lower, and Portuguese workers are highly skilled.
China established the Macau Special Administrative Region as a platform for strengthening economic and trade cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries, and in 2003 created the Forum Macau.
The body includes China and the members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), composed of Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Príncipe, Timor-Leste and, since 2022, Equatorial Guinea.
*** Lusa news agency travelled at the invitation of the Executive Committee of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin. *** VQ/RYOL // ADB. Lusa
