[2019-07-10] São Tomé and Príncipe-China Chamber of Commerce launched by the end of July

Source: Macauhub

The São Tomé and Príncipe-China Chamber of Commerce will be launched by the end of July, former São Tomé minister Carlos Tiny, the main promoter of the initiative, told Macauhub.

“In addition to State-to-State relations, the private sector interested in cooperation with China, and especially in the framework of the Belt and Road initiative, can and should be structured to also foster this relationship,” Tiny told Macauhub on the sidelines of the meeting of Entrepreneurs for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, which ended on Tuesday in São Tomé.

“Governments come and go, society and communities remain,” said Tiny, a doctor and former São Tomé minister of Cooperation.

The former minister also said that the bylaws of the Chamber of Commerce are ready, and the chamber was not launched at the same time as the São Tomé Business Meeting only because of its “heavily loaded agenda” and is now scheduled for the end of the month.

The organisation will bring together São Tomé and Chinese businesspeople and the initiative was “welcomed” by the Chinese ambassador to São Tomé and Príncipe.

“Many people are not aware (of the Belt and Road initiative), because there have been no diplomatic relations between São Tomé and Príncipe and China over the last 20 years,” said Tiny.