Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Mr Tam Chon Weng, speaks to reporters.
The Government would allocate more resources to the teaching of the Portuguese language in the city, in an effort to turn Macao into a training hub for such education and a centre of cultural exchange between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Mr Tam Chon Weng, made the comments on Saturday (19 March), on the sidelines of an event celebrating the 35th anniversary of the University of Macau. The Government is committed to increasing – via training – the number of people with the talent to be bilingual in Chinese and Portuguese, as a way to support also Macao’s development as a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, he said. Mr Tam stated Macao had a favourable environment for learning Portuguese: the language is one of the city’s two official languages. He also noted that the city had media outlets reporting in Portuguese; and that there were a large number of Portuguese citizens living and working in Macao. Also on the sidelines of Saturday’s event, the Secretary was asked by reporters about a decision by the Cultural Heritage Committee not to classify the former Estoril Hotel as part of the city’s architectural heritage. Mr Tam said he respected the decision of the Committee. He added the Government would soon proceed with its redevelopment plan for the Estoril Hotel site. It would turn the building and the adjacent swimming pool into a youth recreation and sports facility; a proposal supported by a majority of members of the public. Committees and consultative bodies under his portfolio worked and operated in a transparent way, stressed the Secretary. In the case of the former Estoril Hotel, the Government had held more than 20 sessions inviting the public to share comments regarding the Government’s redevelopment plan, he said. The Government always paid great attention to local people’s opinions and sought to introduce policies that were in the best interests of local residents, Mr Tam added.