On July 20, a delegation of cultural officials of nine Portuguese-speaking countries arrived in Guangzhou to begin their visit to the Greater Bay Area, at the invitation of the Commissioner’s Office and the Macao SAR Government.

On July 22, Commissioner Bian Lixin held a meeting with the delegation and delivered a speech, in which she noted that China and Portuguese-speaking countries share a long-standing friendship, writing a vivid chapter of mutual learning and exchanges between different civilizations. She emphasized that the two sides shall work together as advocates for the shared prosperity of civilizations, builders of dialogue among civilizations, and guardians of the inheritance of civilizations. Macao is the most iconic converging point of civilizations of Chinese and Portuguese-speaking countries. The Commissioner’s Office will continue to support Macao in fully leveraging its platform strengths and promote mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

Luís Filipe Reis dos Santos, head of the delegation and the official of the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, noted that the delegation had the honor of visiting Guangzhou, the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin and Macao. In the Greater Bay Area, they experienced the profound cultural heritage embodied in Chinese modernization, as well as exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations. He expressed the hope that Macao could better leverage its unique role as the cultural bridge to further advance friendly cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.