Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai has chaired the second meeting of the leading group for promoting the construction of the Guangdong-Macao Intensive Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
The committee pledged to devote more resources to the zone, such as by allocating more staff toward it.
The meeting comes amid increasing attention from policymakers to the closer integration of Macao and Hengqin, which is an island district of the neighbouring mainland city of Zhuhai and seen as crucial to Macao’s economic diversification and expansion.
In terms of human resources, some Macao public servants could be temporarily transferred to a specialised task force to work on the zone, said Sam. This rearrangement would occur in a flexible manner, he said.
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Officials at the meeting also discussed plans to enhance the cooperation between Guangdong and Macao in developing the zone, such as by creating mechanisms for civil servants from Hengqin to visit Macao for research.
Other upcoming projects include constructing a new campus for the University of Macau. The zone will also gain a regional centre of technology transfer and commercialisation for tertiary education institutions nationwide, with a sub-department focusing on traditional Chinese medicine.
The new campus for the University of Macau is expected to finish construction in 2028, while the centre for traditional Chinese medicine will be completed within the year.
President Xi Jinping visited and inspected Macao and Hengqin last December and praised the zone’s progress.
