Macau and Hengqin each signed a cooperation framework agreement with the nation’s largest automotive lithium-ion battery maker CATL yesterday, according to which the Macau and Hengqin governments will make good use of CATL’s leading advantages in the global new energy industry with the aim of promoting the two places’ green and low-carbon development.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) is headquartered in Ningde city in Fujian province. Founded in 2011, CATL has ranked first worldwide in terms of electric vehicle (EV) battery consumption volume for several consecutive years. Its products are sold to leading car manufacturers worldwide such as BMW, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Volkswagen, and Volvo.

The company’s Chinese name is literally known as Ningde Era.

A signing ceremony for the two agreements was held at Government Headquarters in Nam Van yesterday afternoon.

The two pacts signed by CATL yesterday are its Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement with the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR), and its Cooperation Framework Agreement with the executive committee of the of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.

The two cooperation framework agreements were signed by CATL Chief Investment Officer Wang Hongbo and Macau Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong, who also heads the in-depth cooperation zone’s executive committee.

The agreement signing ceremony was witnessed by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, Edmund Ho Hau Wah, Macau’s first chief executive and now vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, Central People’s Government Liaison Office in the MSAR Director Zheng Xincong, and CATL Chairman Robin Zeng Yuqun.

Zeng, who founded CATL, holds a doctoral degree in Physics from the Chinese Academy of Science’s (CAS) Institute of Physics.

Yesterday’s ceremony was also attended by senior local officials and representatives from various segments of Macau’s civil society.

Trip to Ningde

Delivering a speech during yesterday’s ceremony, Lei noted that, led by Ho Iat Seng, officials from Macau and the in-depth cooperation zone visited CATL during their fact-finding trip to Ningde city in January this year, adding that CATL is one of the top manufacturers of EV batteries and energy storage batteries in the world.

Including Ningde, CATL currently operates 11 battery manufacturing plants in the mainland. The company also has two manufacturing plants outside China, namely in Erfurt in Germany and Debrecen in Hungary.

Ho Iat Seng, Lei and other officials travelled to Ningde on January 12 this year for a three-day fact-finding tour.

GDP rises 25.7 pct in Q1

Lei underlined that the Macau government is currently pushing ahead with its “1+4” drive to appropriately diversify the city’s economy. The policy secretary said that Macau has continued to achieve a good performance in its socioeconomic development since early this year, revealing that Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 25.7 percent year-on-year in real terms in the first quarter of this year, after its 2023 output increased 80.5 percent.

The Macau government’s 1+4 model aims to consolidate and diversify the development of the city’s tourism and leisure industry while putting special emphasis on promoting the development of four nascent industries, namely 1) big health mainly driven by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), 2) modern finance, 3) high-tech, and 4) MICE and commerce as well as culture and sports.

The Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone’s top decision-making body is its administrative committee, which is jointly headed by Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong and Ho Iat Seng.

The zone’s executive committee, which is run under the administrative committee, is the body tasked with the zone’s daily functioning and execution of tasks.

The zone was inaugurated in September 2021.

New development model

Lei said yesterday that Macau and Hengqin are working together to promote a new development model with Macau as a platform gathering “international resources”, Hengqin providing a larger space for development, and the achievements to be shared by both sides.

Lei underlined that the signing of the two agreements with CATL will “certainly” inject new impetus into Macau’s campaign to diversify its industries. Lei said that after January’s fact-finding trip, a well-functioning communication mechanism has been established between CATL’s team members and the Macau government’s respective public entities.

Lei pledged that the Macau government will make good use of CATL’s advantages in its technology and highly-qualified human resources with the aim of pursuing “extensive and in-depth” cooperation opportunities concerning high-quality green and low-carbon development.

Lei said that the Macau government will work to make concrete achievements in its cooperation with CATL as soon as possible.

‘Vivid’ example

Also delivering a speech, Su Kun, a deputy director of the in-depth cooperation zone’s executive committee, said that the signing of its agreement with CATL is a “vivid” example illustrating the Guangdong-Macau cooperation in promoting the latter’s appropriate economic diversification by making good use of the “Two Systems” advantages while adhering to the “One Country” component of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle.

Su noted that CATL is a leading enterprise worldwide in the high-tech industry, one of the 1+4 model’s nascent industries.

Su said that the in-depth cooperation zone will improve and streamline its various resources to create favourable conditions with the aim of getting its cooperation projects with CATL off the ground.

Su said the zone expects CATL to mobilise its high-quality resources to make greater investments there. Su said that the agreement’s signing will “open a new chapter” for in-depth cooperation between both sides.

‘Perfect match’

Also delivering a speech, Wang said that his company’s development goals “perfectly match” Macau and Hengqin’s high-quality green and low-carbon development drives, pledging that CATL will continue to improve and deepen its various cooperation mechanisms with Macau and Hengqin with the aim of better serving the two places’ communities.

Wang said that since the setting-up of a working group between CATL and Macau and Hengqin concerning cooperation earlier this year, his company has been conscientiously studying Macau’s 1+4 model, adding that the company has gained a deep understanding about the unique advantages brought by Macau’s “One Country, Two Systems” principle, as well as about the Macau government’s good combination of its administrative efficiency and market-orientated measures.

Wang also said that Macau and Hengqin’s business environment and the “vibrant” operation of their respective civil societies have boosted his company’s confidence in launching development projects there. 

After the signing of Macau’s Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement with CATL, Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong (front, right) and CATL Chief Investment Officer Wang Hongbo (front, left) pose for photos with the pact’s two copies, with (from left to right, back) CATL Chairman Robin Zeng Yuqun, CPPCC National Committee Vice Chairman Edmund Ho Hau Wah, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng and Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Macau Director Zheng Xincong. – Photo: GCS