The Chief Executive, Mr Ho Iat Seng, today held discussions in Beijing with officials from the National Health Commission, regarding support for Macao to train a greater number of medical professionals, and personnel for hospital management.
When meeting the Minister of the National Health Commission, Mr Ma Xiaowei, Mr Ho underlined the fact that the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) would deploy the utmost effort in order to maintain the city’s disease-containment work – including scrutiny of the health condition of inbound and outbound visitors, and the condition of inbound goods – amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Ho said he was grateful for the support of the National Health Commission concerning work relating to COVID-19, including the Commission arranging for a team of professionals to come to Macao to study the situation locally. The pandemic had made clearer the importance of safeguarding public health, said the Chief Executive. He added that the Macao SAR Government would give even greater attention to public health issues when formulating its overall policies.
With support from the Central Government, Macao had been able to control locally COVID-19, and stop it from spreading further in the community, Mr Ho said.
To optimise movement of people between Macao and Guangdong Province, the governments of the two places had mutually recognised the results generated by their respective online health-declaration systems, Mr Ho said. The Macao SAR Government was looking forward to expanding to other provinces in the country the framework for mutual recognition of health-declaration systems, he added.
The Chief Executive gave a briefing on the disease-prevention and disease-control measures in place in Macao since 1 January. They included: the requirement – from an early stage of the COVID-19 alert – for inbound visitors to undergo a body-temperature check upon arrival at a boundary checkpoint and to submit health declarations; application of medical examination and medical-observation arrangements to those people arriving in Macao; suspension of all commercial and social events scheduled in Macao that involved crowds; and the launch of a nucleic acid test scheme to certify individuals were free from infection.
Speaking in today’s meeting, Minister Ma said the Commission would support Macao in its effort to normalise movement between the SAR and the mainland, and so resume the economic and social order. Additionally, the two sides would work more closely on disease-control and disease-prevention work, he added.
Minister Ma commended Macao’s overall strategy in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it was not an easy task for an open and densely-populated city such as Macao to maintain a level of zero local-infection cases. This was thanks to the prompt action taken by the Macao SAR Government, and concerted effort from the community, he noted.
In a separate meeting, Mr Ho and the country’s Minister of Finance, Mr Liu Kun, discussed issues relating to Macao’s economic diversification, and the Guangdong-Macao Intensive Cooperation Zone planned for the island of Hengqin.
Mr Ho said one of the goals of his Beijing visit was to present to departments and committees of the Central Government the concept of the Intensive Cooperation Zone for Hengqin, and offer fresh insights about regional cooperation under the “One country, two systems” principle.
He went on to say that Macao had a sound legal system and regulatory advantages. The management model of "opening the first line and controlling the second line" would become a basis for cooperation between Macao and Hengqin, in particular in relation to the traditional Chinese medicine sector, and for other industries, he suggested.
The Macao SAR Government was looking forward to further support from the Ministry of Finance, in order for Macao to continue development of its bond market and its specialised financial services.
In Monday’s meeting, Minister Liu spoke highly of Macao’s achievements since the establishment of the SAR, and the successful implementation in Macao of the “One country, two systems” principle.
The two sides would work together more closely, so as to take full advantage of the Central Government’s measures supporting Macao’s development; thus helping Macao to integrate further with national development, and assisting the SAR’s economic diversification.
Mr Ho returned to Macao in the evening. During his six-day visit to Beijing, he also met with Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Mr Xia Baolong. Mr Ho briefed Mr Xia on Macao’s effort against COVID-19, the SAR’s current economic situation, and progress relating to the Intensive Cooperation Zone planned for Hengqin. Deputy Directors of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Mr Zhang Xiaoming, and Mr Fu Ziying, attended the meeting.
While in the capital, Mr Ho met respectively with officials representing the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission; the Ministry of Natural Resources; and the State Oceanic Administration.
