Macao has been dedicating further effort to fostering its close collaboration with regional partners regarding environmental protection and the development of a green economy, said today the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On.
Such effort would create synergies regarding the city’s contributions to the country’s development of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (collectively known as “Belt and Road” initiative); as well as for the transformation of Macao into a world centre of tourism and leisure and a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries (collectively known as the “Centre and Platform” policies).
The Chief Executive was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2017 Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition (MIECF), an event taking as its theme “Innovative Green Development for a Sustainable Future”.
The Government is striving to make Macao a city with an even higher quality of life, and stepping up its efforts on balancing and coordinating urban development and environmental protection, said Mr Chui.
Environmental protection and the encouragement of a green lifestyle are key issues in order to ensure a city has a high quality of life; the Government had included these indicators in Macao’s first Five-Year Development Plan, a blueprint for the city’s socio-economic development spanning the period 2016 to 2020.
Environmental protection is an important issue for the national and regional development agendas; strengthening governance regarding ecological and environmental protection is a key task for China in 2017, as put forward by the Premier of the State Council, Li Keqiang, in his latest annual work report.
The Guiding Opinions of the State Council on Deepening Pan-Pearl-River Delta (PPRD) Regional Cooperation also highlighted the need for strengthening regional green collaboration and for ensuring that balance between development and environmental protection was a shared goal for all PPRD Region members.
Since MIECF’s first edition in 2008, the Government has made every effort to advance further exchanges and cooperation in environmental protection: in 2016, it had facilitated the signing of the Cooperation Agreement on Working Together to Build a Green MICE Metropolis. The agreement was between the members of the MICE Alliance of Pan-Pearl River Delta Cities.
The Government had organised a recent visit to Brazil and Portugal, with participation from members of the PPRD Region. The aims were to help member economies acquire further technologies from overseas that are related to advanced concepts of green stewardship; to assist mainland China’s green industries in reaching out to the rest of the world; and to promote further exchanges between PPRD Region members, the European Union and Portuguese-speaking countries, said Mr Chui.
The 10th edition of MIECF is being held from 30 March to 1 April. MIECF is an annual event that gathers specialists and academics to share their experience in promoting green industry and protecting the environment.
The Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government hosts the event with special support from the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China, and the country’s Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
It is also co-organised by the rest of the provincial and regional governments in the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region, namely those of Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and the Hong Kong SAR.