Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai travelled to Beijing yesterday for his first annual duty visit where he will brief state leaders about the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) government’s work this year and its policy guidelines for next year.
This is Sam’s first annual duty visit to the nation’s capital to deliver his work report since he took office as the MSAR’s chief executive on December 20 last year.
The Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) announced Sam’s three-day visit to the capital in a statement on Sunday.
As is customary, the GCS statement did not name the state leaders that the chief executive of the MSAR will meet during the annual duty visit.
Neither did the statement mention when exactly Sam will meet the state leaders.
As Sam is scheduled to return to Macau tomorrow, he is expected to meet the state leaders today.
The GCS statement also noted that Secretary for Administration and Justice Wong Sio Chak is acting chief executive during Sam’s three-day duty visit.
The MSAR’s chief executive customarily travels to Beijing to report the local government’s annual work to state leaders in December. For instance, in 2021, 2022 and 2023, the MSAR’s then chief executive Ho Iat Seng went to the capital for his duty visit in December each time.
Sam succeeded Ho as the MSAR’s chief executive on December 20 last year, i.e., the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of the MSAR, when Sam was sworn in by President Xi Jinping at the Macau East Asian Games Dome in Cotai.
In 2024, no duty visit to Beijing was made by the chief executive.
In 2023, it was the first time that Ho delivered his work report to the country’s president and premier during a single meeting. Previously, the country’s president and premier heard the work reports by the chief executives of the Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions respectively in separate meetings on their duty visits to Beijing.
Specifically, when Ho was on his duty visit to Beijing in December 2023, he reported the local government’s work to Xi in a meeting which was also attended by Premier Li Qiang, while on his duty visit to the capital in December 2022, he met Xi and the nation’s then premier Li Keqiang separately.
This file photo shows Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai addressing the opening of the 2025 Global Artificial Intelligence Machines and Electronics Expo (AIE) in The Venetian Macao in Cotai early this month. – Photo: GCS
