The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, has been holding a series of meetings with local associations and scholars to sound out their views on key topics prior to the Government’s Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2017, to be released on 15 November.

In preparation for the Policy Address, Mr Chui today at the Government Headquarters met respectively with representatives of the Macao Chamber of Commerce and the Women's General Association of Macau.

During today’s meeting with the Macao Chamber of Commerce, Mr Chui mentioned the Government would study closely the question of whether there was a need to amend the Labour Relations Law.

In order better to protect both employers and employees and to maintain the sound finances of the Social Security Fund, the Government had announced that both sides would pay higher mandatory contributions; which is complemented by one-off contributions from the Government.

The Chief Executive and representatives of the Women's General Association of Macau had exchanged views on paternity leave; issues relating to the Law on Prevention and Combatting of Domestic Violence; and the local education sytem.

Mr Chui said the Government would maintain its existing social welfare policies and measures regarding the enhancement of people’s livelihoods, provided there were public surpluses in fiscal year 2017.

During a session on Wednesday (26 October) with local scholars and experts, Mr Chui said the Government would press ahead regarding cooperation with regional partners, in a bid to give more impetus to the diversification of Macao’s economy and to create more employment opportunities.

The Government believed local people’s public housing needs would be met as a result of an increase in land resources: more than 40,000 housing units are planned for Zone A of the new urban reclamation area and on other plots.

In meetings with civil service associations on Tuesday (25 October), Mr Chui reiterated the Government paid great attention to the welfare of civil servants, in particular, those with modest incomes. The Government would take into consideration the topics raised by the associations, such as: welfare for retired civil servants; improving civil servants’ welfare in order to maintain their purchasing power as consumers; the possibility of building more flats for civil servants; the idea of offering more training to civil servants; and addressing issues regarding structural reforms of public departments.

When meeting on Monday (24 October) with representatives of the Macao Federation of Trade Unions and the General Union of Neighbourhood Associations of Macao, Mr Chui said the Government fully understood housing was an issue of community concern. He pledged the Government would study closely the need for public housing, with the aim of addressing the issue by providing more land resources and by increasing the supply of housing.