Macau and Guangdong province will collaborate to achieve “economic recovery” and the normalization of circulation between the two sides, affected by the imposition of anti-pandemic measures, the authorities of the Chinese administrative region announced.
“Macao and Guangdong agreed to consolidate, on the good basis of existing cooperation, the results of the joint work to prevent and control the pandemic, collaborate for economic recovery and to normalize the movement of people between the two territories”, reads a statement note from Government’s Information Bureau (GCS).
The Chief Executive of the territory, Ho Iat Seng, travelled on Friday to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, where he met with several provincial leaders.
In a meeting with the governor of Guangdong, Wang Weizhong, where “bilateral cooperation” was discussed, Ho noted that he did not exclude reducing the quarantines to enter Macau to seven days, in order to stimulate the economic recovery of the two territories, the statement said.
It is not necessary to carry out a quarantine for those who travel between Macau and mainland China, with the exception of those who enter the small territory from areas of high incidence in the country. Those who arrive in Macau from other origins, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, are obliged to complete ten days of medical observation and seven more of self-management, which has discouraged the use of the city as a gateway to mainland China.
Local authorities announced on Saturday the reduction, as of Wednesday, of the quarantine period for those arriving in Macau from 14 to 10 days.
In Guangzhou, the pandemic was also the subject of the meeting between the head of government of Macau and the secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Guangdong provincial committee, Li Xi.
Ho explained that “in view of the international situation and the pandemic evolution, the local economy faces pressure due to a further reduction in the number of visitors”.
“In the second half of the year”, said the official, Macau will see a “gradual recovery of the local economy with the slowdown of the epidemic situation in Mainland China”.
Strengthening bilateral cooperation, promoting the Greater Bay and prioritizing the construction of the Deep Cooperation Zone, on the island of Hengqin, were also some of the goals set by the leaders, reads the note from the GCS.
The Greater Bay Area is a Beijing project aiming to create a world metropolis from the special administrative regions of Macau and Hong Kong and nine cities in Guangdong Province, in addition to Hong Kong and Macau, where more than 60 million people live. population.
The Deep Cooperation Zone between Guangdong and Macau, on the Chinese island of Hengqin [Mountain Island], was announced last year, with the establishment of a joint management of Guangdong and Macau province.
In addition to the free movement of capital, another of the advantages of this special area, for attracting companies and investment, should focus on the policy of exemption and suspension of taxes on goods, whose entry into the entire Chinese market, of more than 1.4 thousand millions of people, will be facilitated.
