CE meets Belgian Deputy Prime Minister in Brussels

MACAU, April 25 - The Chief Executive, Mr Sam Hou Fai, travelling to Brussels, Belgium as part of his ongoing official overseas visit, called on Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Employment, Economy and Agriculture, Mr David Clarinval, on Friday (24 April) afternoon local time. The two sides exchanged views on deepening cooperation between Macao and Belgium in multiple fields such as economic and trade matters, aviation and logistics, and biomedicine.

Mr Sam thanked the Belgian Federal Government for its support regarding the visit by the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) Government delegation. During Friday’s meeting, the Chief Executive gave a briefing on Macao’s latest developments. Since its return to the motherland, Macao has comprehensively and accurately implemented the principles of “One country, two systems”, “Macao people administering Macao”, and a high degree of autonomy, he said.

On this basis, the Chief Executive noted, the economy has continuously developed, society has remained harmonious and stable, and Chinese and Western cultures have deeply integrated. The city's vitality and inclusive spirit are widely recognised internationally. Mr Sam invited the Deputy Prime Minister to visit Macao to experience the city’s harmonious atmosphere and the vitality of its development.

Mr Sam said that, based on its positioning as “One Centre, One Platform, and One Base”, the MSAR is actively leveraging its advantages of internal and external connectivity, striving to build itself into an important bridgehead for China’s high-level opening up, and a vital window for exchange and mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilisations.

This visit aimed to consolidate and further develop the friendly and cooperative relations between Macao and Belgium, said Mr Sam. He mentioned that Macao’s air cargo market has been fully opened up, and the city is systematically creating an international air transport hub (port) on the west bank of the Pearl River. This brings new opportunities to strengthen aviation and logistics cooperation between Macao and Belgium, allowing the two sides jointly to develop freight routes connecting Macao and Europe.

Mr Sam noted Belgium possesses world-leading enterprises in food processing, biomedicine, and other sectors. These enterprises could make good use of the Macao platform in order to promote enhanced long-term cooperation among Chinese mainland, Macao, and Belgian enterprises, achieving industrial alignment and joint development for reciprocal benefit.

Mr Clarinval stated that Belgium attaches great importance to its relations with Macao, and fully acknowledges the social stability and prosperity achieved through Macao’s successful implementation of the “One country, two systems” principle.

Mr Clarinval pointed out that Belgian enterprises have a global footprint and possess outstanding capabilities in fields such as aviation and logistics, food processing, and biomedicine. They had long maintained good economic and trade exchanges with enterprises on the Chinese mainland and in the MSAR. Belgium and Macao should continuously deepen their economic and trade relations and promote the realisation of further cooperative projects, he said.

Mr Clarinval was pleased to see Macao actively participating in international-cooperation affairs, adding that Belgium supports Macao in fully playing its role as a platform to deepen cooperation and alignment with European Union countries in areas such as economic and trade matters, culture, and education.

Belgium maintains an open attitude and is willing to explore and expand exchanges and cooperation with Macao in any field, while also encouraging Belgian enterprises to expand their businesses through the Macao platform, stated Mr Clarinval.

He congratulated the Chief Executive on the positive outcomes achieved during his current visit to European countries, and looked forward to visiting Macao in the future to see what he described as a fascinating, internationalised city.

Other officials attending Friday’s meeting included: the Chinese Ambassador to Belgium, Mr Fei Shengchao; the Chief-of-Office of the Chief Executive’s Office, Ms Chan Kak; the Director of the Macao Economic and Trade Office to the European Union in Brussels, Ms Lúcia Abrantes dos Santos; and Counsellor European and International Affairs in the Cabinet of Belgium’s Minister of Employment, Economy and Agriculture, Ms Sybille Mazay.