The Chief Executive, Mr Sam Hou Fai, successfully concluded his four-nation European tour and returned to Macao this afternoon. The tour marked his first official overseas visit since assuming office as Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR). The extensive itinerary yielded fruitful results and achieved its intended goals.
During the tour, 46 activities of various kinds were held, including high-level meetings, events showcasing the achievements of the “One country, two systems” principle, economic and trade promotions, tourism promotions, and cultural and educational exchanges. At governmental and enterprise levels, more than 100 cooperation agreements were signed, with consensus reached on areas for further cooperation and on related projects.
This tour comprehensively demonstrated to the international community the significant achievements attained through the successful practising of the “One country, two systems” principle in Macao. It also comprehensively elevated mutual trust and the level of cooperation with the relevant countries, assisting in China’s high-level opening up.
Positive results were also achieved in promoting the development opportunities available in Macao and Hengqin, strengthening external exchanges and cooperation, realising the innovative “shared voyage” model, and assisting Chinese mainland and Macao enterprises in jointly exploring Portuguese-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and continental European markets.
The MSAR Government delegation was accompanied by an entrepreneur delegation in Lisbon, Portugal, and Madrid, Spain.
In Portugal, Mr Sam met with seven leaders or senior officials from the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, including the President of the Portuguese Republic, the President of the Portuguese Parliament, the Prime Minister, and the President of the Supreme Court of Justice.
The Macao and Portuguese representatives engaged in comprehensive and in-depth exchanges, continuing the traditional friendship between Macao and Portugal and elevating exchanges and cooperation across multiple fields to a new level. Portuguese leaders at various levels affirmed and positively evaluated the significant achievements Macao has made in implementing the “One country, two systems” principle.
In Spain, Mr Sam established new connections, enhanced bilateral cooperation on economic, trade and tourism matters, and explored extending Macao’s platform role to Spanish-speaking countries.
The visits to Portugal and Spain further consolidated Macao's role as a “precise connector”, helping to strengthen friendly and cooperative relations between China, Portuguese-speaking countries, Spanish-speaking countries, and the European Union (EU).
While in Geneva, Switzerland, Mr Sam held meetings with: the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO); the Permanent Representative of China to the WTO; and the Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland. These meetings deepened liaison mechanisms, strengthened alignment, and enhanced international organisations’ understanding of Macao’s platform functions. An opportunity was also taken to strengthen the functions of the Macao Economic and Trade Office to the WTO, injecting new momentum for the MSAR Government to participate more actively in international affairs matters such as multilateral trade.
In Brussels, Belgium, Mr Sam called on the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Employment, Economy and Agriculture, and the Ambassador of China to Belgium, while also meeting representatives of the Chinese community in the country. By strengthening mutual ties and alignment, the meetings deepened economic and trade exchanges between Macao and Belgium, while expanding fields for bilateral exchanges and cooperation.
At the EU’s main headquarters, Mr Sam met with: the Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs of the EU’s European External Action Service; the Head of the Chinese Mission to the EU; and a Vice-President of the European Parliament. The meetings helped to consolidate and develop continuously the trade partnership between Macao and the EU, with pledges to expand cooperative relations in areas such as innovative technology, green technology, higher education, and cultural and tourism industries.
Mr Sam also inspected the Macao Economic and Trade Office to the European Union, and encouraged all the staff to work together to assist further the MSAR Government in strengthening its ties and cooperation with the EU.
Overall, the tour achieved significant results in three main aspects.
First, it promoted to the world the Macao story of successful practising of the “One country, two systems” principle, highlighting its significant advantages and strong vitality.
Through the exhibition on the MSAR achievements held in Lisbon and in-depth exchanges with national leaders and senior officials during the four-nation European tour, the successful practising and remarkable achievements of the “One country, two systems” principle in Macao were comprehensively showcased to the international community.
As the Chief Executive stated at the exhibition, under the strong leadership and with the full support of the Central Government, the MSAR Government and the general public have worked with one heart and one mind, forging ahead to allow Macao to embark on a development path that suits its actual conditions and possesses local characteristics. It has become a paradigm of the successful practising of the “One country, two systems” principle, widely recognised by the international community. This overseas tour further enhanced the international community’s understanding and recognition of the institutional advantages of the “One country, two systems” principle, highlighting Macao’s unique role and historical responsibility in overall national development. The tour laid a more solid foundation for Macao to play a more active role in the nation's high-level opening up.
The second significant result of the tour was the effective deepening of the synergistic development of Macao and Hengqin, and the targeted promotion in Europe of the opportunities available in both places.
The MSAR Government organised a delegation of approximately 120 entrepreneurs to join the tour, comprising enterprise representatives from Macao, Hengqin, and other provinces and municipalities on the Chinese mainland. This realised the important concept of the “shared voyage”, demonstrating the innovative model of synergistic development of “Macao + Chinese mainland + International Market” to explore jointly a broader market scope.
During the tour, the MSAR Government delegation, together with the entrepreneurs, met senior officials from Portugal and Spain, establishing mutual connections and building platforms for cooperation. Economic and trade cooperation promotion seminars were held in Lisbon and Madrid to introduce in detail to local enterprises there the policy advantages and development opportunities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Guangdong-Macao Intensive Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
These actions promoted business matching and negotiations, facilitating the signing of a series of agreements between business associations and enterprises from the respective sides for the substantive launch of various economic and trade cooperation projects. Simultaneously, there was a key focus on promoting the functions of the newly-established China-Portuguese (Spanish) Speaking Countries Economic and Trade Service Centre in assisting Portuguese and Spanish enterprises to settle in Macao and Hengqin, and in helping Chinese mainland enterprises to go global. This showcased the MSAR's determination to connect continuously with Portuguese-speaking countries while actively exploring the Spanish-speaking market.
In addition, a large-scale tourism promotion event was successfully held in Madrid, and in-depth exchanges were held with the Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization. This was conducive to promoting high-quality tourism cooperation and establishing a robust platform for the tourism industry to strengthen exchanges.
The third significant result of the tour was expansion of diversified spaces for external cooperation and assisting in China’s high-level opening up.
During the tour, Mr Sam attended intangible cultural heritage performances to enhance Macao-Portugal cultural exchanges; met and interacted with Macao students studying in Portugal, encouraging the young people to study diligently and promote China-Portugal friendship; and met government officials and representatives of international organisations across multiple fields and a wide range of areas. This further broadened the MSAR's multifaceted exchanges and cooperation with relevant countries and international organisations.
This overseas tour was a practical move in building Macao into a crucial bridgehead for the country’s high-level opening up, and a vital window for exchange and mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilisations. It tangibly reflected Macao's determination better to leverage its unique advantage of “relying on the motherland while connecting to the world” and of better contributing Macao’s strength to the country’s high-level opening up.
This just-concluded tour marked the first time an MSAR Chief Executive visited Spain and Geneva, Switzerland. This overseas tour was not only an important milestone in the MSAR Government’s commitment to expanding external exchanges and cooperation, but also highlighted the strategic direction of the current-term MSAR Government to extend the Macao platform and actively participate in international multilateral cooperation, and thus bore profound and significant meaning.
The MSAR Government will strengthen overall coordination and make every effort to make proper use of the outcomes from this tour. In the face of a complex and ever-changing international situation, the MSAR will always firmly uphold the foundation of “one country” and make good use of the benefits of “two systems”. Taking this tour as an opportunity, the MSAR Government will effectively play its unique role as a “precise connector”, continuously engage in external exchanges and cooperation, inject new momentum into Macao's efforts toward appropriate economic diversification and long-term prosperity and stability, and ensure the steady and sustained progress of the “One country, two systems” principle.
The MSAR Government expresses its gratitude to the host countries for their thoughtful arrangements for this tour. It also expresses thanks for the strong support and assistance provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the MSAR; the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council; the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the MSAR; the Chinese Embassies in Portugal, in Spain, in Belgium, and other countries; as well as China’s Permanent Missions to the United Nations Office at Geneva, the WTO, the EU; and other relevant international organisations.
