The Chief Executive yesterday met with the top Chinese official in Tianjin city, as the two territories agreed to strengthen cooperation in trade, culture and tourism.
Fernando Chui Sai On and Macau’s official delegation arrived in Tianjin yesterday after the Chief Executive met with state leaders in Beijing.
During the meeting, the secretary of the Tianjin Communist Party committee introduced the latest political and economic developments of Tianjin city to the Macau delegates. Zhang Gaoli also said the two cities should step up cooperation in all aspects.
Chui said that after the business promotional activity ‘Macau Week’ had been held successfully in Tianjin at the beginning of this year, both sides have improved communication. Currently, he said, there are 150 companies from the mainland city operating in Macau.
He invited Zhang to visit Macau and to hold a ‘Tianjin Week’ here to further expand mutual co-operation in business, culture and tourism.
The delegation concluded their visit and returned to Macau yesterday evening, after attending a welcome luncheon hosted by the local authorities and visiting the Sino-Singapore Eco-city, the Haihe Italian Business Park and the Tianjin Planning Exhibition Hall.
On Monday Chui discussed the MSAR Government’s work in 2011 with Chinese president Hu Jintao and premier Wen Jiabao. Both Chinese leaders asked the Chief Executive to manage finance matters with caution in order to reduce risk, due to the overall economic situation that is expected next year.
They also said that the Macau Government should intensify work to improve people’s livelihood and accelerate the pace of economic diversification.
“According to China’s 12th Five-Year Plan, Macau has been positioned as a world tourism and leisure centre and as a business and trading service platform for China and Portuguese-speaking countries, and the SAR government would fully carry out these two missions,” Chui said at the meetings.
He stressed that the government is confident in building Macau as a world tourism and leisure destination for an international market.
In the near future, he added, “the government would organise business delegations from Portuguese-speaking countries to participate in commercial and trading activities, such as fairs, in mainland China”.
On the other hand Chui also pledged to organise business delegations from the mainland to promote their goods and products in Portuguese-speaking countries, as well as to participate in international trading activities.
The Chief Executive said that the government is greatly hopeful of the potential of regional cooperation to diversify Macau’s economy.
