Macao devotes much efforts to regional co-operation

Macao is devoting much efforts in promoting regional co-operation and shaping it into a distinguished service platform, the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said this morning. Addressing some 300 delegates at the opening ceremony of the 13th Congress of International Federation for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (FIEALC), Mr Ho said the event once again illustrated Macao's unique role left by history, which associated the city with the Portuguese and Latin world. ''In particular, we will intensify strategic co-operation with the Pan-Pearl River Delta region which consists of nine Mainland provinces as well as the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao. ''We are also playing a unique intermediary function between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries. ''This role as a service platform has become more evident after we took part in the Second Ministerial Meeting of the China and Portuguese-speaking Countries Economic Co-operation Forum in 2006, as well as the Entrepreneurs Meeting for Commercial and Economic Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries this year,'' he said. Speaking on the opportunities that laid ahead, Mr Ho said that in recent years Latin America and Asia have increasingly recognised the need to be more connected, as globalisation drew the two regions closer together. He said relations between China and most Latin American countries have blossomed in the past few years. ''While there are synergies and differences between the two regions, there are also tremendous opportunities and challenges on the horizon,'' he said.