Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai separately met with the heads of four ministries and commissions of the central government in Beijing on Friday, before concluding his five-day working visit to the nation’s capital on Saturday afternoon, according to separate statements by the Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS).
Sam travelled to Beijing on Tuesday last week where he attended the nation’s commemorative activities the next day marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
On Thursday last week, Sam met with Industry and Information Technology Minister Li Lecheng in the morning, while he met with the minister of the General Administration of Customs, Sun Meijun, in the afternoon.
According to GCS, Sam met with Culture and Tourism Minister Sun Yeli on Friday morning where he said that the local government was enriching Macau’s role as a World Tourism and Leisure Centre and accelerating the development of the city’s cultural and sports sectors.
Sam pledged that the local government will continue to leverage Macau’s advantages in the blending of Chinese and Western cultures to advance the development of the city’s cultural tourism segment through diverse channels, telling the global community the good story of Macau and promoting traditional Chinese culture.
According to GCS, Sam also met with the chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), Zhang Yuzhuo, on Friday morning where he expressed his gratitude to the commission for its long-term efforts in mobilising state-owned enterprises to make significant contributions to Macau’s economic development, improvements in residents’ well-being, and infrastructure development.
Sam underlined his government’s commitment to building a sustainable industrial structure tailored to the city’s real situation in compliance with its 1+4 appropriate economic diversification plan, pointing out that investment projects from state-owned enterprises cover all the four emerging industries listed in Macau’s 1+4 plan.
According to previous statements by the local government, the 1+4 model aims to consolidate and diversify the development of the city’s tourism and leisure industry (1) while putting special emphasis on promoting the development of four nascent industries (+4), namely 1) big health, 2) modern finance, 3) high-tech, and 4) MICE and commerce as well as culture and sport.
According to GCS, Sam also briefed Zhang on the local government’s ongoing planning of the establishment of a science and technology research and development industrial park in Macau, underlining that the industrial park will become an important engine to advance Macau’s appropriate economic diversification.
Sam said he expects the commission to continue supporting Macau’s collaboration with state-owned enterprises in jointly advancing the establishment and future operation of the industrial park.
According to GCS, Sam met with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Friday afternoon where he pledged that Macau will make full use of the new opportunities brought about by the implementation of the upgraded version of the Mainland and Macau Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), which started on March 1 this year.
Sam also underlined the local government’s commitment to leveraging Macau’s role as a business service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries with the aim of expanding commercial ties with Portuguese-speaking countries while also extending links to Spanish-speaking and Southeast Asian countries.
Sam said that the local government will continue to maintain close collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce so as to assist Macau enterprises in exploring the mainland market.
According to GCS, Sam also met with the chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Zheng Shanjie, on Friday afternoon where he expressed his gratitude to the commission for rolling out new measures aiming to support Macau’s participation in the development of the Guangdong-Macau In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, pledging that the Macau government will continue to maintain its close collaboration with its Guangdong counterpart in jointly advancing the in-depth cooperation zone’s second-phase development and accelerating Macau-Hengqin integrated development.
Sam also said he expects the commission to continue supporting the ongoing development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA), while also providing his government with guidance on the ongoing planning of its four future large-scale projects aiming to inject new impetus into Macau’s long-term development, comprising the Macau International Integrated Tourism and Cultural Zone, the Macau Science and Technology Research and Development Industrial Park, the Macau International Aviation Hub for the Pearl River West Bank, and the Macau-Hengqin International University City.
Before returning to Macau on Saturday afternoon, Sam visited Zhongguancun Science Park, aka ZPark, on Saturday morning with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the latest development of the nation’s new-generation IT industries.
At the science park’s exhibition hall, representatives overseeing the science park’s operation briefed Sam and members of his delegation about the park’s history and future planning, after which the delegation visited three high-tech enterprises based in the park, specialising in the development of computer technologies, software production, and the manufacture of supercomputers and servers respectively.
A representative briefs Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai (centre) about Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park in its exhibition hall on Saturday. – Photo: GCS
