Macau, China, 30 Aug – Chief Executive of Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) said last Saturday that Macau will enhance its cooperative ties with Taiwan.
Fernando Chui Sai On made the comments at the 6th Pan Pearl River Delta (PPRD) Regional Cooperation and Development Forum in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian province.
"Strengthening economic and trade ties as well as cultural exchanges between Macau and Taiwan will be one of the major tasks for the Macau Special Ad-
ministrative Region government this year," Chui said.
Discussing ways to boost economic and cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Strait was a key focus of the forum, he added.
The Chief Executive of Macau also said that he expects the SAR and Southeast China’s Fujian province to step up bilateral co-operation in various fields.
During the meeting, that ends Tuesday, Chui said that the two sides can deepen their co-operation on trading, culture, tourism, training, transportation, logistics, customs clearance among others.The forum, which opened last Friday, ends tomorrow.
Several participants in the forum said that they hoped Macau could strengthen its role as a business and trade service platform, especially with the Portuguese-speaking countries and the European Union.
Some 100,000 Fujianese live and work in Macau, while Macau has invested US$ 1 billion in Fujian in recent years
The Pan Pearl River Delta region covers the provinces of Hainan, Yunnan, Hunan, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Fujian, Sichuan and Guizhou, as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Hong Kong and Macau are also part of the so-called "9+2" region.
The PPRD covers a geographical area that produces around one-third of the China’s GDP.
The GDP of the nine provincial regions in the Chinese mainland totaled 10.5 trillion yuan last year, up 11.8 percent from one year earlier. The growth rate was higher than the national GDP increase.
The forum seeks to stimulate the economy within the Pan-Pearl River Delta region. It has attracted more than 10,000 participants, including officials, entrepreneurs and celebrities from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, as well as Taiwan.
During the previous five PPRD forums, more than 14,000 cooperative projects have been agreed, with their total investments exceeding 1.8 trillion yuan (264.71 billion U.S. dollars), according to government statistics.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of Macau Cheong U will pay a working visit to Taiwan from Thursday through next Monday – the highest visit by a Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) to the island.
Chui’s chief-of-cabinet Alexis Tam Chon Weng visited Taiwan for talks with the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and Straits Exchange Foundation, as well as education officials last week.
During is stay in Taiwan Cheong U will take part in a tourism promotion of Macau in Taipei.
(MacauNews)
