Alexis Tam Chon Weng, who had headed the Macau Economic and Trade Office in Lisbon since December 20, 2019, retired on December 20 last year, according to an announcement published in the Official Gazette (BO) yesterday.

Tam was the Macau government’s secretary for social affairs and culture from December 20, 2014 to December 19, 2019. He had also headed the Macau Economic and Trade Office to the European Union in Brussels since December 20, 2019. He had also been the director of the Macau Economic and Trade Office to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva since May 1, 2020.

Customarily, the director of the Macau Economic and Trade Office in the Portuguese capital concurrently also heads Macau’s corresponding offices in Brussels and Geneva.

Following Tam’s retirement, Lúcia Abrantes dos Santos is now the three offices’ acting director.

Tam, a veteran Macau civil servant, was born in Myanmar in 1962. He is a Chinese national.

Tam pushed ahead with a number of controversial projects during his five-year tenure as the secretary for social affairs and culture, such as redeveloping the Old Courthouse in Avenida da Praia Grande into the city’s new central library. However, the current government, which has been headed by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng since December 20, 2019, announced its decision in August 2020 to axe the project.

The government’s project of converting the Old Courthouse and the adjacent former Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters into the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) got off the ground late last year.

Tam also pushed ahead with a project to redevelop the long-abandoned Hotel Estoril near Praça do Tap Seac into a youth activity centre. However, the current government decided in 2020 to redevelop the dilapidated building into the city’s new central library. Its construction has still not got off the ground. 

This photo released by the Macau Economic and Trade Office in Lisbon in January last year shows its then director, Alexis Tam Chon Weng (right), visiting a photo exhibition held at the office in the Portuguese capital, in December 2021.