On 6 December 2018, Mr Leong Vai Tac, Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR government, met with Mr João Leopoldo da Costa, Vice Minister for Health of Mozambique who was recently visiting Macao. The two parties exchanged ideas on TCM cooperation of Mozambique with Macao and the Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park of Co-operation between Guangdong and Macao (“Industrial Park”).
Secretary Leong Vai Tac holds a talk with a delegation headed by Vice Minister for Health of Mozambique João Leopoldo da Costa
During the meeting, Mr Leong Vai Tac began by extending his welcome to Vice Minister João Leopoldo da Costa to Macao and mentioned the fruitful achievements scored in cooperation between Mozambique and Macao in the TCM industry. Vice Minister João Leopoldo da Costa said he was honoured to visit Macao, who also visited the Industrial Park, and thanked Macao for its contribution to the development of the health sector in Mozambique. In recent years, the Industrial Park has achieved significant outcomes in TCM education and training in Mozambique, the Vice Minister said, adding that he expected both parties to provide more training courses on special TCM therapies, improve the professionalism of trainees, and strengthen mutual cooperation on the research and development of pharmaceuticals, education and training, diagnosis and treatment, and the quality of medical care.
As regards the development of the TCM industry, Mr Leong Vai Tac expected that Mozambique could serve as a platform and a point of entry for relevant TCM businesses in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to have a “soft landing” in Africa. To realise such a shared goal, Macao and Mozambique have extensive space for cooperation. On the basis of current cooperation with Mozambique, Macao could develop Mozambique into a base in Africa for TCM development and TCM practitioners training.
Secretary Leong Vai Tac (R) and Vice Minister João Leopoldo da Costa in a group photo
This meeting was also attended by Mr Francisco Domingos Manhiça, Acting Consul General and Counsellor to the Consul General of the Republic of Mozambique in the Special Administrative Region of Macao of the People’s Republic of China, Ms Felisbela Gaspar, Director of the National Institute for Traditional and Alternative Medicine, Ministry of Health of Mozambique, Ms Francisca Reino, Representative of Mozambique in the Permanent Secretariat of Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao), Ms Teng Nga Kan, Chief of the Office of the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Ms Lu Hong, Advisor to the Office of the Secretary for Economy and Finance and Chairwoman and Chief Executive of the Guangdong-Macao Traditional Chinese Medicine Technology Industrial Park Development Co., Ltd., and Mr Lo Ioi Weng and Mr Casimiro de Jesus Pinto, Office Advisors.
