The “Macao Urban Transformation and Development Dialogue: Implementing the Global Development Initiative and Promoting Economic Diversification and Transformation” was held yesterday at the China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Commercial and Trade Service Platform Complex.
In his speech, Foreign Ministry Commissioner Liu Xianfa said that General Secretary Xi Jinping has always attached great importance to Macau’s prosperity, development and its people’s well-being, and always stressed that the motherland stands firmly behind the city’s long-term prosperity and stability, as well as personally planned for and promoted the development of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
Liu added that Macau’s transformation and development call for strategic planning, independent innovation, talent support, institutional guarantees, and youth cultivation. He also said he believes that the motherland’s “Treasure Land of the Lotus” (= Macau) will have even brighter prospects as it better integrates itself with the overall national development, improves its function of offering close connections with the world, based on the motherland’s support, and turns its comparative strengths into competitive strengths.
Meanwhile, Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong said in his speech that various sides’ insights into the Global Development Initiative’s (GDI) implementation and the promotion of economic diversification and transformation will offer more valuable inspirations for Macau’s future development, particularly for Macau to bring about the In-depth Cooperation Zone’s further development.
The Global Development Initiative was launched by President Xi Jinping on September 21, 2021. In an online speech at the General Debate of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly, Xi stated that, in the face of the severe shocks of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the world needed to work together to steer global development toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated, and inclusive growth.
The insights, Lei said, will aid in accelerating a moderately diversified and sustainable industrial structure’s development suitable to Macau’s realities in the direction set before while stabilising the economy and ensuring people’s well-being. They will also contribute to benefiting the people and stabilising employment in the process of promoting economic transformation and upgrading, Lei said.
Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macau SAR, Zhang Rongshun, noted in his speech that the central government explicitly put forward and has firmly supported Macau’s moderate economic diversification and transformation, and introduced a series of important policies including the building of “One Centre, One Platform and One Base” and the development of Hengqin and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA).
Zhang added that Macau needs to identify its position, cement confidence and pool wisdom to realise the policy objective of the central government and its urban transformation.
The dialogue, which was held online and offline, was attended by over 150 guests, including officials from the local government, the Liaison Office and the Foreign Ministry Commissioner’s Office.
There were also officials and scholars from the Department of International Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Macau and the Macau-Guangdong In-depth Cooperation Zone, as well as representatives from places such as Tokyo and Dubai who spoke on various topics.
A statement issued by the organisers described the dialogue as “highly relevant for meeting current needs”. Moreover, considering the current economic environment, the dialogue has set up a new platform and is an attempt for greater international exchanges for the city’s transformation and development, the statement said.
The dialogue, the statement said, also “boosts the confidence and resolve” of leveraging the city’s “unique strength”, cultivating emerging industries and sending a “positive signal” to various local and international communities.
The statement underlined that through the dialogue, it is hoped that “more will be achieved in terms of ‘inviting in’ and ‘going out’,” expressing the expectation that Macau’s external exchanges and international cooperation will be further expanded to draw on international experience.
This handout photo taken and provided yesterday by the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the MSAR shows the guests who attended yesterday’s event, including Foreign Ministry Commissioner Liu Xianfa (9th from right), Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong (10th from right) and Deputy Director of the Liason Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macau SAR Zhang Rongshun (8th from right).
