The Chief Executive, Mr Ho Iat Seng, today said Macao was devoting full effort to promoting the development of the city’s integrated tourism and leisure industry. In tandem, there were utmost effort to facilitate the development of four nascent industries, namely: the “Big Health” industry, with a focus on traditional Chinese medicine; modern financial services; high and new technology; and the cultural, convention and exhibition, commercial and trade industries.

These efforts would in turn support the new development phase of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, added Mr Ho.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the first edition of the Business Conference on Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development, held today in Macao.

Macao was also working to realise its strategic role as “One Centre, One Platform, and One Base”, and pragmatically promote the “1+4” approach to support appropriate economic diversification, said Mr Ho.

The Greater Bay Area project was a major national scheme put forward by President Xi Jinping. It was of great significance regarding the country’s implementation of an innovation-driven development strategy and China’s further opening up to the outside world, noted the Chief Executive.

As one of the core cities in the Greater Bay Area, Macao had unique advantages, such as being an international free port, and having a low tax system and an extensive economic and trade network, said Mr Ho. Its harmonious social environment had also helped Macao actively play a bridging role, both domestically and externally.

The Guangdong-Macao Intensive Cooperation Zone in Hengqin was a new initiative to support Macao’s ongoing effort regarding diversification of its economic structure. The country had announced in recent years a number of favourable initiatives that provide strong policy support and institutional guarantees for the development of the Cooperation Zone, he added.

Looking ahead, Guangdong and Macao would step up cooperation while continuously enhancing the Cooperation Zone’s new system of “mutual discussion, joint construction, joint administration and shared benefits”, in order to ensure the high-quality development of the Cooperation Zone and to establish it as a stepping stone for the overall development of the Greater Bay Area.

The Chief Executive also said that the Greater Bay Area offered exceptional business conditions, a huge market potential, and an excellent living environment. He urged conference attendees to invest in the Greater Bay Area, as a way to support the Greater Bay Area to complement its strength towards the country’s “dual-circulation” development pattern.

The first edition of the Business Conference on Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development is jointly hosted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the People's Government of Guangdong Province, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, and the Macao Special Administrative Region Government. Some 1,000 domestic and international attendees, coming from the political, business and academic sectors, were invited to participate in the two-day event, which aims to build a platform for domestic and overseas business to engage in the development of the Greater Bay Area, with mutual benefits.