The Chief Executive, Mr Ho Iat Seng, met with officials from Guizhou Province, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Fujian Province and Jiangxi Province respectively, in order to discuss how to promote closer ties on business, cultural affairs and exchanged views on topics of mutual concern.

The meetings were held in Sanya City, Hainan Province where Mr Ho was on a three-day visit there for the 2020 Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation Chief Executive Joint Conference held today.

In a meeting on Friday (18 September) with the Governor of Guizhou Province, Ms Shen Yiqin, both sides reviewed development of water supplied via Guizhou to Macao during salt tide periods and discussed topics related to poverty alleviation and cooperation on certain industries.

The SAR Government committed to continuing its support for Guizhou in relieving the effects of poverty, in particular in healthcare, education, training, and industry cooperation, Mr Ho said. The SAR Government would spare no effort in encouraging Macao community to take part in Guizhou’s fight against poverty.

Mr Ho also talked about Macao’s robust effort toward promotion of traditional Chinese medicine sector, suggesting two sides could step up cooperation by making use of Guizhou’s land resource in the production of medicine products.

Governor Shen expressed her gratitude for Macao’s support regarding poverty alleviation, helping the province in relieving challenges from education, healthcare, training of skilled talents and industrial development.

Guizhou would work closely with Macao to advance cooperation on poverty alleviation through consumption, such as agricultural goods, Ms Shen said. The two places would enhance cooperation in trade and investment, processing of products of traditional Chinese medicine, training of tourism professionals, and education, she added.

In a separate meeting on Friday, Mr Ho exchanged views with the Chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Mr Chen Wu, regarding MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) industry, and traditional Chinese medicine.

The Chief Executive said the traditional Chinese medicine sector was a key for Macao’s economic diversification. He briefed local legislation progress concerning the sector, saying one of the directions was to attract greater number of Chinese medicine companies from across the country to establish a base in Macao. He added that Macao looked forward to furthering cooperation with Guangxi, as the latter was a prominent centre of traditional Chinese medicine.

As a platform for cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, Macao would dedicate further effort to advance link between Guangxi and Portuguese-speaking countries, Mr Ho stated.

During the meeting, Mr Ho talked about Macao’s effort in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and the negative impact wrought to Macao’s tourism industry due to the pandemic. With Central Government’s support, visa issuance for mainland residents to travel to Macao under the facilitated individual travel scheme was set to resume nationwide on 23 September. Visa application from Zhuhai residents had resumed since 12 August and subsequently extended to Guangdong residents since 26 August.

Chairman Chen spoke highly of Macao’s effort to prevent and control COVID-19 and said he was glad to hear the resumption of the facilitated individual travel scheme.

Regarding cooperation in MICE sector, Mr Chen said Guangxi welcomed participation from Macao in the China-Asean Expo, an event scheduled to be held there in November. Guangxi looked forward to be able to take part in several Macao events, including the Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum & Exhibition and the Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo.

The Chief Executive expressed support for the China-Asean Expo and thanked Gaungxi for its support towards Macao’s MICE events.

On Thursday (17 September), Mr Ho met with the Governor of Fujian Province, Mr Wang Ning, to exchange views on commercialisation of traditional Chinese medicine, contribution to the “Belt and Road” initiative, and closer cooperation in economic and trade matters, as well as cultural affairs and tourism.

The Chief Executive suggested three approaches for cooperation between Macao and Fujian: 1) financial services in relation to renminbi clearing and foreign currency bonds; 2) traditional Chinese medicine; and 3) training of a greater number of professionals to support development of traditional Chinese medicine and promotion of science and technology projects in that field.

Macao and Fujian both played a key part in the “Belt and Road” initiative, Mr Ho noted. He looked forward to working closer with Fujian in order to promote trade and investment activities in places covered in the initiative, Mr Ho added.

Governor Wang praised Macao’s work in containing the coronaviruses from spreading locally, saying the stability in political system, economy and the people’s livelihoods illustrated the Macao SAR Government’s ability in governance.

Fujian and Macao could bolster exchange in digital economy, maritime economy, financial service, technology, cultural affairs and education, Mr Wang proposed.

In a separate meeting held on Thursday, Mr Ho met the Governor of Jiangxi Province, Mr Yi Lianhong, to explore further cooperation opportunities in traditional Chinese medicine, tourism, science and technology and education.

Speaking in the meeting, Mr Ho said the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic had further reinforced the Macao SAR Government’s determination to press ahead with policies promoting the city’s economic diversification.

He envisaged vast opportunity for cooperation between Macao and Jiangxi, as the two places had respective advantages, i.e. Macao had strong base in capital while Jiangxi enjoyed rich natural resources, Mr Ho said.

He additionally gave a briefing on the SAR Government’s strategy for the development of traditional Chinese medicine sector, via favorable conditions under the “One country, two systems” principle; and the SAR Government’s work on the promotion of patriotism for the younger generations.

Governor Yi noted Macao was a core city of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and a platform for the mainland to expand its overseas connections, in particular ties with Portuguese-speaking countries.

Jiangxi and Macao developed close ties in a variety of issues and frequent people-to-people exchange, Mr Yi noted. He shared information of Jiangxi’s ongoing effort to promote science and technology innovation and proposed the two sides could work together in that regard.

The Chief Executive returned to Macao after the Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation Chief Executive Joint Conference.