Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai has pledged that the Macau government will continue to work with Hengqin’s authorities to overcome the current deep-rooted obstacles hindering the development of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, according to a statement by the Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) on Saturday.
Sam made the remarks during a regular meeting of the zone’s management committee on Saturday.
Saturday’s meeting, which was held on Zhuhai’s Hengqin island, was the ninth regular meeting of the zone’s management committee since its establishment.
The zone was inaugurated in September 2021.
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’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.
Currently, the zone’s management committee is jointly headed by Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong and Sam.
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. The executive committee is currently headed by Macau Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon.
During Saturday’s meeting, which was co-chaired by Sam and Wang, Sam underlined that the zone has made positive progress in various tasks over the past three years, with the level of Macau-Hengqin integration gradually improving, and the zone’s role in supporting Macau’s appropriate economic diversification becoming increasingly prominent.
Saturday’s meeting, the ninth regular meeting of the zone’s management committee, was the first time that Sam had co-chaired a regular meeting of the zone’s management committee, since he took office on December 20 last year, when he succeeded Ho Iat Seng as the MSAR’s chief executive.
According to the GCS statement, Sam said that the meeting enabled both sides to earnestly study and understand President Xi Jinping’s important instructions on Hengqin’s development and to make it clear about the directions for the zone to achieve its second-phase development goals, particularly the key tasks to be carried out this year.
Sam’s 4 hopes
During the meeting, Sam raised four “hopes” for promoting the zone’s development, according to the statement.
Firstly, Sam said that the zone’s authorities will thoroughly study and implement Xi’s important remarks about the projected “Macau + Hengqin” new development model and deeply understand its rich implications.
Secondly, Sam pledged that the zone’s authorities will intensify their efforts in reform and innovation, boldly explore innovative policies and the alignment of rules and mechanisms, and overcome the deep-rooted bottlenecks and obstacles hindering Hengqin’s development.
Thirdly, Sam said that the zone’s authorities will foster a cohesive and progressive work atmosphere, promoting diligence, responsibility, and pragmatism.
Fourthly, Sam pledged that the Macau government will more strongly support closer Macau-Hengqin synergistic development with the aim of making new achievements in the zone’s development in various aspects in collaboration with the zone’s authorities.
Moreover, according to the statement, Sam stressed the need for the zone’s authorities to adopt the “three things to look at” laid out by Xi as their criteria for evaluating whether their tasks have achieved the desired results in Hengqin’s development.
Xi’s ‘three things to look at’
During his inspection visit to Hengqin in December last year, Xi raised “three things to look at”, according to which the effectiveness of Hengqin’s development should be tested by three criteria, namely whether there are concrete measures and results in promoting Macau’s appropriate economic diversification and in facilitating Macau residents’ lives and employment in Hengqin; whether new institutional achievements have been made in leveraging the advantages of the “Two Systems” component of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle and in promoting the connection of rules and mechanisms between Macau and Hengqin; and whether the Macau-Hengqin integration has played a pioneering role in promoting the market integration of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA).
Sam also noted during the meeting that the Macau government has set up its Leadership Group for Promoting the Development of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, with the aim of strengthening its support for the zone’s development in terms of policies, legislation, personnel, and resource allocation.
Need to raise Macau-Hengqin integration
During Saturday’s meeting, Wang noted that during his inspection visit to Hengqin in December last year, Xi fully acknowledged the positive progress the zone had made in its various tasks, adding that the “three things to look at” laid out by Xi have provided clear directions for the zone to promote its development.
Wang noted that this year marks the beginning for the zone to work towards to its second-phase development goals, pledging that the zone’s authorities will thoroughly study and implement the spirit of Xi’s important speeches and instructions on Hengqin’s development and always remember that the original intent to develop Hengqin is to serve and promote Macau’s appropriate economic diversification.
According to the statement, Wang stressed the need to continue improving the level of Macau-Hengqin integration, by pragmatically advancing the connectivity of infrastructure, the alignment of rules and mechanisms between the two places, and the connection between Macau and Hengqin residents.
Macau Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai (left) and Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong address Saturday’s meeting of the management committee of the Guangdong-Macau In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin. – Photos: GCS
