The launching of the EU-Macao Cooperation in the legal field would further strengthen the close relation between Macao and the European Union, said the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Florinda Chan today (3 December).

The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Florinda Chan, said at the opening ceremony that the overall objective of this four-year program, extending into the year 2006, is ¡§Consolidation of the Macao Legal System.¡¨

Legal training, at various levels and for different professionals, is a specific need in the Macao SAR, which was underlined in Government policy plan for 2003, and co-operation with the European Union in this field would be fruitful and would benefit both sides, she add.

The total budget for the whole program will be 1.980.000,00 euros (approximately 15.480.000,00 patacas), shared in equal parts by the European Union and Macao.

The first of the numerous actions that incorporate the project is a Seminar on Intellectual Property and Industrial Property running from today until 9 December.

Also beginning today is a four-month Course on Law-Making, which according to the Secretary, help improve skills of different professionals involved in the legislative process with technical training in law drafting and legal techniques.

Florinda Chan also underlined another action of this joint program that will be carried out, with the aim of improving the knowledge and awareness of the MSAR legal system amongst local residents.

Macao-EU general project of co-operation in the legal field includes six programs that go from law-making process, law promotion amongst citizens and legal translation to protection of intellectual property rights, dissemination of the MSAR legal system in Mainland China and strengthen the collaboration between the legal professionals in the MSAR and in the PRC.