On October 22, Sam Hou Fai, Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region, met with Ren Hongbin, Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), and his delegation at the Government Headquarters in Macao. The two sides exchanged views on topics including better leveraging Macao’s platform role and jointly expanding mutually beneficial cooperation.

Sam Hou Fai welcomed Ren Hongbin and his delegation to Macao and thanked the CCPIT for its longstanding strong support for Macao’s efforts to promote appropriate economic diversification. He stated that the SAR Government, anchored in its positioning as “One Centre, One Platform, One Base” and “a hub for high-calibre talent,” is steadily advancing appropriate economic diversification. Leveraging its advantages of “affinity to the motherland and connection to the world,” Macao actively plays its role of “internal and external connectivity” and continuously expands its business cooperation networks with Spanish-speaking countries, Southeast Asia, and other regions. In this process, the SAR Government has innovatively adopted a model featuring government-business collaboration, Macao-Hengqin synergy, and joint overseas market exploration, supporting enterprises from the mainland, Macao, and Hengqin in accompanying the Chief Executive on successive visits to Portugal, Spain, and Southeast Asia to jointly explore markets, achieving solid results. Looking ahead, the SAR Government will continue to deepen the development of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, implement the “Macao + Hengqin” integrated strategy, accelerate the high-quality trade and industrial development, and help local and foreign-invested enterprises expand into the mainland market. The SAR Government hopes to leverage the CCPIT’s strong economic and trade networks to continuously expand new spaces for mutually beneficial international economic and trade cooperation.

Ren Hongbin stated that the successful practice of “One Country, Two Systems” in Macao has demonstrated remarkable achievements and important experience with Macao characteristics. As China’s largest trade and investment promotion agency, the CCPIT plays an important role in connecting domestic and international markets, serving opening up, participating in consultations on global economic and trade rules, and engaging in international commercial mediation and arbitration. The CCPIT is willing to continue supporting Macao in better leveraging its platform advantages and to assist Macao in achieving high-quality and stable development in social, economic, and other fields. He also stated that the CCPIT will successfully host the China Expo Forum on for International Cooperation next year to help Macao drive appropriate economic diversification through the exhibition industry. 

Also present at the meeting were Macao’s Secretary for Economy and Finance Ng Wai Han, Chan Kak, Chief-of-Office of the Chief Executive’s Office, Che Weng Keong, President of the Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), as well as Li Shuai, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Liaison of the CCPIT, and Shu Huan, Chief Representative of the CCPIT Representative Office in Macao.