Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao push forward Pearl River Development Plan

Infrastructure, services industry, developing Hengqin and Zhuhai-Macao Cross-Border Industrial Zone, and building a high-quality living community are the key areas for Macao to co-operate with Guangdong and Hong Kong in implementing the long-term development plan for the region. The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Francis Tam Pak Yuen, said this in Hong Kong today when he attended a press conference after a tripartite meeting with Guangdong and Hong Kong officials on the implementation of "The Outline of the Plan for the Reform and Development of the Pearl River Delta (2008-2020)”. The meeting was attended by official delegations from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, which were led by the Vice Governor of Guangdong, Mr Wan Qingliang, the Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong, Mr Henry Tang Ying-yen, and Mr Tam. Mr Tam said since the Outline covered a large number of areas and projects, Macao would focus on four key areas, namely 1. co-ordinating on large-scale infrastructure;
2. enhancing co-operation in services industry;
3. pushing forward the development of the new territory of Hengqin and Zhuhai-Macao Cross-Border Industrial Zone, and
4. building a high-quality living community together. The three parties concluded that they would co-operate in infrastructure planning, tourism, environmental protection, finance, education and innovative technology. They would also formulate a co-ordinating mechanism and propose to the Central Government to include their co-operative projects in the nation’s Twelfth Five Year Plan. Mr Tam said the meeting marked the beginning of a co-operation mechanism on the implementation of the Outline and it should be seen as a milestone for the co-operation between the three parties. According to the Outline, Macao should position itself as a global centre of tourism and recreation. Therefore, Macao would strengthen co-operation with Guangdong in boosting multi-destination travel, he said. Macao would work with Guangdong and Hong Kong to build the whole region into ‘a high-quality living community’ and ‘one of the world’s mega metropolitan areas with the most abundant core competitive strengths’, he said.