Macao is to dedicate more effort to promoting to the local community the opportunities arising from, and existing achievements of, the “Belt and Road” initiative, while strengthening coordination work domestically to enable greater involvement by Macao in national development strategies.

The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, made the remarks on Tuesday (9 October), during a plenary meeting of the Working Committee for the Development of “Belt and Road” Initiative. The meeting discussed the next phase of work aimed at boosting Macao’s contribution to the initiative.

Committee members were urged to step up effort in order to enable Macao – via participation in the “Belt and Road” initiative – to perform its strategic roles in terms of serving the country’s overall development.

Mr Chui added he believed the “Belt and Road” initiative would be certain to provide Macao itself with fresh opportunities for development.

During the meeting, Mr Chui, who also acts as the Committee’s Chairman, shared his insights regarding how Macao could perform its roles as “promoter” and “coordinator” in relation to the “Belt and Road” initiative.

As a “promoter”, Macao’s role was to understand better the policies of the Central Government and by doing so enhance consensus in Macao regarding the country’s development direction. Mr Chui added the Committee had a duty to raise the level of patriotic awareness in Macao, as the city had been supported at national level by fresh policies favouring the personal development of Macao residents wishing to spend time on the mainland.

The role as a “coordinator” referred to the effort to integrate more actively Macao within overall national development. Mr Chui reminded the Committee of the need to keep optimising mainland-Macao communication mechanisms and to encourage closer exchanges on the both sides.

During the meeting, the Committee reviewed the detail of work carried out so far in 2018 and discussed ideas for work next year.

In 2017, the Government had established the Working Committee for the Development of the “Belt and Road” Initiative in order to advance Macao’s contribution to the development of the country’s Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (collectively known as the “Belt and Road” initiative).