Macao plans real-time gross settlement system with Shenzhen help

Leong Vai Tac, Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR Government, signed a cooperation memorandum of Guangdong – Hong Kong - Macau Bay Area development with Shenzhen Vice-Mayor Ai Xuefeng at the Shenzhen-Macao cooperation meeting, December 2, 2015.[Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Leong Vai Tac, Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR Government, on Wednesday at the Shenzhen-Macao cooperation meeting disclosed that the city is establishing a real-time gross settlement system with the help of Shenzhen.

"The system will be put into practice next year," Leung said as it is still under development.

Macao Chief Executive Chui Sai On and Shenzhen Mayor Xu Qin participated in the meeting where they discussed cooperating in key fields next year. After the meeting, the two sides signed cooperation memorandums on Guangdong – Hong Kong - Macau Bay Area development and Shenzhen-Macau tourism.

"We will jointly establish a first-class bay economy and continuously improve our competitiveness as a whole," Xu said, adding that the area has met the requirements to achieve the goal.

He disclosed that the shipping capacity of the area has achieved 7,000 TEU and its total foreign trade volume has exceeded 1.8 trillion yuan.

"We will support more Macao modern service companies in the field of finance, logistics, legislation, accountant, architecture design and etc, to develop in Qianhai special zone," he said.

Macao government also agreed to expand cooperation with Qianhai. Leong said the SAR is discussing to expand the area of its "young entrepreneur supportive plan" to the three areas of Guangdong Free Trade Zone (FTZ).

Officially established in April, the Guangdong FTZ includes Nansha in Guangzhou, Qianhai and Shekou in Shenzhen, as well as Hengqin in Zhuhai.

The Macao delegation will visit Qianhai special zone and its startup base "The Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub" on Thursday.

"We will learn from Shenzhen about providing a favorable environment for the youth to start business and innovate," Leong said.