Echo Chan departing Forum Macau after brief tenure

Echo Chan Keng Hong, the incumbent co-ordinator of the support office of the permanent secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade and Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, is to be replaced by Macau Economic Services official Cristina Gomes Pinto Morais next month, the Official Gazette announced yesterday. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event yesterday, Ms. Chan stressed that her departure following a brief 8-month tenure is for personal reasons, but declined to elaborate. In March, veteran administrator Echo Chan Keng Hong took up the co-ordinator post of the office, an organ responsible for helping promote multi-lateral economic exchanges. The office is now preparing for the 5th Ministerial Conference for China and the Portuguese-speaking countries to be held next year, Ms Chan told reporters. Ms. Chan was previously a director at Macao Institute for Promotion of Trade and Investment (IPIM), and a co-ordinator of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Industrial and Scientific Park, a MSAR-invested project located in Hengqin born out of co-operation initiatives between the city and the Guangdong Government. Ms. Morais, the incumbent chief of Macau Economic Services’ External Economics Relations Department, is to replace Ms. Chan effective November 3. The appointment will last for one year, according to the Official Gazette.