Macau News

GOVERNOR GEN. VASCO ROCHA VIEIRA PAYS
OFFICIAL VISIT TO EUROPEAN UNION

   The European Union (EU) will possibly send a permanent representative to Macau in the next few months, Governor Gen. Vasco Rocha Vieira said during an official visit to EU institutions in Brussels in March.

     Gen. Vieira made the announcement after attending the public presentation of a report by an
Eminent Persons Group on the position of Macau in the context of relations between China and the EU.

    The Governor said the future permanent EU representative in Macau should have the same
status and diplomatic rank as the one currently in Hong Kong, stressing that the two representatives should be independent of each other, based on either territory's separate political identity.

     Gen. Vieira held talks with European Commission President Jacques Santer and other top EU officials during his stay in Brussels, among them Leon Brittan and Joćo de Deus Pinheiro. Macau constitutes an  "added value" of the EU's relations with Asia, Gen. Vieira said upon return from his visit to Brussels.

     The Eminent Persons Group's report on Macau contains several recommendations,
including the proposed establishment of a Macau-based European business centre for small and medium-sized companies looking for trade and investment opportunities in southern China.

     The report urges the EU to support Macau's bid for inclusion in the UNESCO's list of protected world heritage sites.