The Chief Executive, Mr Ho Iat Seng, met with the Minister of Commerce, Mr Zhong Shan, to exchange views on how to push forward the development of the Guangdong-Macao Intensive Cooperation Zone planned for the island of Hengqin.

During a meeting held on Wednesday (12 August) in Beijing, the two officials discussed how land resources in Hengqin could be used to provide Macao enterprises with fresh space for development of new products and to advance the city’s traditional Chinese medicine sector.

The Chief Executive told Mr Zhong about Macao’s efforts to move ahead with the Guangdong-Macao Intensive Cooperation Zone initiative. He stated that the project was in accordance with President Xi Jinping’s directive to continue developing Hengqin using a framework based on cooperation, in order to create a favourable environment for Macao’s adequate economic diversification. Since January, the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the Guangdong Government had been in close contact with the aim of advancing the Intensive Cooperation Zone initiative, Mr Ho said.

During the meeting on Wednesday, Mr Zhong stated that the Ministry of Commerce would give its support – in line with the Central Government’s directives – to promoting innovative mechanisms for the development of Hengqin, in order to advance the economic diversification of Macao.

Mr Ho and Mr Zhong also talked about the next Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao). Mr Zhong said that the Ministry of Commerce would support hosting the event once the pandemic was under control.

In the meeting, Mr Ho briefed the Minister on Macao’s effort and accumulated experience in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the support of the Central Government and the concerted effort from the local community, Macao had, over the past eight months, made hard-earned progress supressing COVID-19, and had achieved a stable epidemiological situation, Mr Ho said.

The pandemic had posed challenges to Macao, the Chief Executive said. Thanks to its long-standing prudent financial policies, the Macao SAR Government now had sufficient reserves to fund a number of programmes to support the livelihoods of local people, and to spur local spending in order to maintain employment levels of local residents.

Mr Zhong spoke highly of Macao’s effort to prevent and control COVID-19, saying it was a demonstration of the Chief Executive’s leadership in promoting Macao’s advancement in accordance with President Xi’s directives.