Macao keen to expand business ties with Guangdong

Macao special Administrative Region expects to further advance cooperation and exchanges with Guangdong province and speed up economic integration, under the framework of "one country, two systems", in the years to come, said the new chief executive of the SAR.

Macao chief executive Ho Iat-seng-led big trade delegation arrived in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, for further expansion of economic cooperation and cultural exchanges on Monday, shortly after he was sworn in as the fifth-term chief executive of Macao special administrative region last Friday.

Ho met Li Xi, Party chief of Guangdong, and Ma Xingrui, governor of Guangdong, in Guangzhou to discuss expansion of economic ties between the two regions.

Li said his province fully supports the economic construction of Macao and urged both sides to seize the golden opportunities brought by the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to advance cooperation and exchanges in the coming years.

"Guangdong, window of the country's reform and opening up, is expecting to further accelerate the construction of the Guangdong-Macao Industrial Cooperative Park and the Tradition Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park of Cooperation Between Guangdong and Macao," Li said.

Both parks are located in Hengqin island at the mouth of the Pearl River in Zhuhai special economic zone.

Meanwhile, Guangdong is expecting to further increase the infrastructural connectivity between the two regions and expand exchanges of youths from the two regions to upgrade the cooperation and exchange of Guangdong and Macao to a new level, said Li.

Ho said Macao would consolidate the already very close economic and trade relations between Guangdong and Macao and further deepen the cooperation in investment, culture, social livelihood and personal exchanges in the following years.

Ho and his delegation consisting of senior officials and business executives will also visit major projects funded by Macao investors in Zhuhai before they end their two-day Guangdong tour and return to Macao on Tuesday afternoon.

Ho is the third chief executive of Macao after Ho Hau-wah and his predecessor Chui Sai-on.