Bay Area plan to 'boost Macao's development'

Representatives from various sectors of the Macao Special Administrative Region on Tuesday welcomed the outline development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. They said the plan would propel the SAR's development in innovation and technology - as well as consolidate its ties with Portuguese-speaking countries.

The plan, released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Monday, lays out the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao innovation and technology corridor as one of the measures to turn the Bay Area into an international innovation and technology hub.

Jose Chui Sai-peng - a Macao lawmaker and deputy to the country's top legislature, the National People's Congress - said the blueprint would energize scientific cooperation among Bay Area cities.

He believed measures aiming to facilitate cross-boundary and regional flow of innovation elements would be released. Such measures would boost innovation and technology cooperation between Macao and other Bay Area cities, he added.

Chui spoke highly of Macao's strengths in solid-state circuits research. He said the University of Macao had published more papers on this topic than universities in Hong Kong and on the mainland in 2017 and 2018 at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference.

The plan also positions Macao as a trade cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

Sio Chi-wai, president of Macau Development Strategy Research Center, said such positioning will provide Macao with a clear development focus, and turn the SAR into a springboard to assist mainland enterprises in expanding their businesses in Portuguese-speaking markets.

Lao Ngai-leong, vice-president of the Macao Chamber of Commerce and president of Chong Sai Enterprise, said the trade and business sectors in Macao all welcomed the plan. It could also contribute to mutual benefits among cities involved, and help the city to achieve its goal of diversifying its economy.

He called for more favorable measures to lower the threshold for Macao enterprises - especially small and medium-sized ones - to invest on the mainland.

The Bay Area has 11 cities, including two SARs - Hong Kong and Macao - and nine municipalities in Guangdong province, namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Huizhou, Zhaoqing and Jiangmen.

A symposium will be held in Hong Kong on Thursday to discuss the plan's details. Officials from the central government, the two SARs and Guangdong province will attend. They include Fernando Chui Sai-on, chief executive of the Macao SAR and Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.