The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, summarised the results of his visits made so far to the cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area) while in Huizhou, Guangdong Province.
Speaking to the media, Mr Chui said the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government was committed to supporting the coordinated planning effort of the Central People’s Government, and to facilitating the convergence of the Macao SAR’s Five-year Development Plan – and its implementation – with the development of the Greater Bay Area. Macao would make use of its advantages and work toward mutually-beneficial cooperation with sister cities of the Greater Bay Area, in order to promote sustainable and adequate economic diversification, he stated.
Mr Chui met the media yesterday (10 July) as his current round of visits to Greater Bay Area cities was about to conclude today. He had led a Macao delegation making short trips – spread across a period of approximately three weeks – to certain Greater Bay Area cities: Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen from 21 to 22 June; Zhongshan and Jiangmen on 25 June; and the latest round of visits to Zhaoqing, Foshan, Huizhou and Dongguan; in aggregate accounting for all nine mainland China cities within the Greater Bay Area.
The Chief Executive added that the Macao SAR Government had engaged in extensive preparatory work and studies in relation to the Greater Bay Area. At the heart of this work was spirited support for the Central People’s Government’s coordinated planning for the development of the Greater Bay Area. This involved facilitating the convergence of the Macao SAR’s Five-year Development Plan – and its implementation – with the development of the Greater Bay Area.
Macao would make use of its strengths in order to seek benefits that would be complementary for its partners. These included mutually-beneficial cooperation and coordinated development, in order to participate in the development of an international-standard Greater Bay Area and city cluster, while fostering Macao’s adequate, sustainable economic diversification, said Mr Chui.
Mr Chui summarised three recommendations stemming from the Macao SAR’s planning:
First, Macao understood its positioning as “One Centre, One Platform”, empowered by the Central People’s Government. Macao would make use of its strengths – including its network of overseas Chinese – to maintain close connections with Portuguese-speaking countries, and expand the connections to Southeast Asian countries and regions along the “Belt and Road” initiative. Macao would also sustain development of its mature tourism industry, continue optimising the convention and exhibition industry, and expedite development of a specialised financial services industry. The Macao SAR Government believed that planning for such diverse and internationalised development would enable Macao fully to realise its advantageous position in relation to the Greater Bay Area.
The second recommendation was that in advancing the Greater Bay Area, emphasis should be placed on the benefits to the public. The enhancement of infrastructure interconnectivity within the Greater Bay Area and of the quality of the ecological environment would help to foster satisfaction among the public. Ministries of the Central People’s Government had launched measures to make it more convenient for Hong Kong and Macao residents to work in mainland China. Further policies designed to deliver practical benefits and improve convenience of movement were likely to be introduced in future.
The third recommendation was – in the context of the delegation having visited many innovative projects and enterprises in the Greater Bay Area cities – innovative technology be one of the key directions for future development. Therefore, young members of the “Thousand Talents Union” had also been invited on the visits to enrich their experiences and their knowledge of the country's rapid development. Witnessing the increase in available opportunities would encourage the younger generation to face challenges, modify conventional thinking, and adopt an open mind in pursuit of studies. Young people could also develop businesses and learn from each other via the Greater Bay Area, in order to achieve two-way cooperation – i.e. to go global and also to bring in new ideas.
The Chief Executive said that the visits enabled the delegation’s members to learn about the views of people in sister cities in the Greater Bay Area. The people of those places believed there was scope for further cooperation and for making use – in a complementary way – of Macao’s advantages in relation to tourism, hotel management and training, innovation, youth entrepreneurship and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Macao SAR Government would summarise and review the results of past cooperation, and would continue to explore practical cooperation with relevant public bodies in the nine Greater Bay Area cities.
The Macao SAR Government hoped to continue upholding the principles of mutual and complementary benefit, and would adopt the soon-to-be-launched Outline Plan for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and further enhance cooperation with the nine cities.
Finally, the Chief Executive again thanked the Central People’s Government for attaching importance to the positioning and functions of the Macao SAR in the Greater Bay Area, and for respecting and accepting the Macao SAR Government’s views throughout the process of formulating the Outline Plan.