The Seventh Hong Kong Macao Co-operation High Level Meeting was held in Macao today, with the Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis, Mr Tam Pak Yuen, and Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, Mr John Tsang Chun-wah, leading delegations to the meeting.

The two parties reviewed co-operation in all areas, and discussed the future direction of co-operation. They believed that the present co-operation and communication mechanism is effective and they would continue to actively promote and deepen co-operation in various aspects between Hong Kong and Macao, to achieve complementary advantages and joint developments.

Mr Tam pointed out in his review that since the Sixth Hong Kong Macao Co-operation High Level Meeting last year, there has been stable and practical progress in the 19 categories for Hong Kong-Macao co-operation, and there have been new achievements with co-operation in cross-boundary infrastructure and transport, culture, electronic government affairs and food safety.

The parties would continue to initiate exchanges on aspects such as tourism, legal assistance, maritime affairs, environmental protection, land mapping, hygiene, financial and labour affairs where various degrees of success have already been achieved.

In terms of cross-boundary infrastructure and transport co-operation, the island, tunnel and bridge construction have been fully launched in accordance with plans. Filling of Zhuhai-Macao Port Artificial Island was completed in November last year.

The construction of the main body of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, representing 41% of the total investment, was completed in April this year.

Guangdong and Macao have reached basic agreement on major principles such as the administrative jurisdiction and jurisdiction of Macao Port Management District. Macao has started the procedures to apply for approval from the State Council, and is awaiting a reply.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong and Macao Cross-Border Road Transport Research Group has been studying in detail the proposals for the future Hong Kong-Macao intercity buses, trucks and drivers. The Hong Kong and Macao Cross-Boundary Road Access Working Group has reached an agreement regarding operations for shuttle buses, land-to-air direct routing airport buses, cross-boundary private cars and cross-boundary drivers.

In terms of cultural co-operation, the Cultural Affairs Bureau again invited Hong Kong academics to participate in the follow-up study of the Research on the Indication System of Macao Cultural and Creative Industry in 2013. Macao also sent representatives to Hong Kong to participate in the First Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Museum Forum, the 14th International Comic Artist Conference (Hong Kong), and fashion shows and fairs. They also jointly formed the Hong Kong-Macao Film Delegation 2014, to visit film industry bases in Guangzhou and Foshan.

In addition, for the very first time, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao jointly held the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Film-Making Investment and Exchange Conference 2014 in Macao. The three parties co-operated to hold large-scale original exhibitions of “Historical Imprints of Lingnan: Major Archaeological Discoveries of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao” and the second “Maritime Porcelain Road: Relics from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Museums,” enriching the cultural life of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

Regarding co-operation in e-government, Macao’s Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau and Hong Kong’s Office of the Government Chief Information Officer have exchanged views on aspects such as review and approval of Information Projects, IT administration, identity recognition and rights management mechanism, e-government shared structure, management framework for government information security, public e-services, government website regulations, and open data.

Regarding food safety co-operation, Macao’s Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau and Hong Kong’s Food and Environmental Hygiene Department signed the Letter of Intent on Food Safety in December 2013, to establish a communication mechanism on food safety information. After the letter was signed, there have been 12 reported cases potentially involving food safety that allowed Macao to take prompt follow-up action that minimised risks related to imported food to Macao. The two parties have been continuously strengthening technical exchanges on food safety.

During the meeting, representatives of Macao and Hong Kong government departments introduced the latest progress with co-operation in the four above-mentioned areas. Both parties agreed to further strengthen their co-operation.

In addition, the two parties exchanged views on promotion of the “one-trip-multiple-stops” tourism route, providing professional training for medical staff, and medicines that may lead to adverse reactions or be sub-standard. They also discussed matters such as technical preparations for offering legal assistance, a study on incentives for foreign ships berthing in Macao to enjoy harbour charge discounts for switching to cleaner fuel during their stay, and expansion of the coverage of satellite positioning reference station services to Hong Kong and Macao waters through data sharing.

Hong Kong SAR Government officials attending the meeting also included the Permanent Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Ms Chang King-yiu; the Deputy Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Daniel Cheng; Deputy Secretary for Development, Mr Chan Chi-Ming; Principal Assistant Secretary for Home Affairs Ms Elaine Mak Tse Ling; Assistant Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Dr Lee Siu Yuen and Assistant Government Chief Information Officer of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, Mr Alex Lee.

Macao officials attending the meeting included Chief-of-Office of the Chief Executive’s Office, Mr Alexis Tam; Chief-of-Office of the Secretariat for Economy and Finance, Ms Lok Kit Sim; Director of the Infrastructure Development Office, Mr Chan Hon Kit; President of Cultural Affairs Bureau, Mr Ung Vai Meng; Advisor of the Office of the Chief Executive, Mr Kou Chin Hung; Deputy Director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau, Mr Kou Peng Kuan; and member of the Administration Committee of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Ms Ung Sau Hong.