The Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) said in a statement yesterday evening that according to the website of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, the composition of its management committee and executive committee has been adjusted, according to which Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong and Macau Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai are the management committee’s dual directors, while Macau Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon is the management committee’s executive deputy director as well as the executive committee’s director.
The zone’s management committee is its top decision-making body jointly administered by Guangdong Province and the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR).
The zone was inaugurated in September 2021.
The zone’s executive committee, which is run under the management committee, is the body tasked with the zone’s daily functioning and execution of tasks.
According to the Master Plan of the Development of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin published by the State Council in September 2021, the zone’s management committee is run under a dual director system, jointly led by the governor of Guangdong Province and the chief executive of the MSAR, with an executive deputy director appointed by the MSAR, and other deputy directors appointed through negotiation between Guangdong and Macau.
According to the master plan, the head of the zone’s executive committee is appointed by the MSAR government, while Guangdong Province and Zhuhai City appoint their respective representatives to the committee.
The change of officials of the zone’s management committee and executive committee, which was also referred to by yesterday’s GCS statement, has been made accordingly following the change of the MSAR government. Sam succeeded Ho Iat Seng as the MSAR’s chief executive on December 20 last year, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of Macau’s return to the motherland.
Previously, the zone’s management committee was jointly headed by Wang and Ho, the then chief executive.
Cheong, who was reappointed as the MSAR’s secretary for administration and justice for Sam’s administration, continues to be the executive deputy director of the zone’s management committee.
Previously, the zone’s executive committee was headed by Lei Wai Nong, Macau’s then secretary for economy and finance, but this time the post has been taken up also by Cheong. The MSAR’s current secretary for economy and finance, Anton Tai Kin Ip has become one of the deputy directors of the executive committee.
Cars drive past a residential neighbourhood in Hengqin near its joint checkpoint with Macau last month. – Photo: Tony Wong
