The Macau government convened a meeting in Hengqin on Friday to gather opinions and suggestions from representatives from various segments of Hengqin’s civil society concerning its upcoming drafting of Macau’s 3rd Five-Year Plan.
The Macau government is scheduled to complete the drawing-up of Macau’s 3rd Five-Year Plan and start implementing the plan this year. It has underlined its commitment to aligning Macau’s third five-year socioeconomic development plan with the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan.
The Central People’s Government released the full version of the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan on March 13 after the plan’s draft outline was passed by the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing on the previous day. The plan, officially known as 15th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development, covers the period between 2026 and 2030.
The Macau government is scheduled to launch a public consultation later this month to gather opinions and suggestions from Macau’s civil society concerning its drafting of Macau’s 3rd Five-Year Plan.
The 106-square-kilometre island of Hengqin in Zhuhai City is officially known as Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, following its inauguration in September 2021. The adjacent island is three times the size of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR).
The meeting, held in Hengqin on Friday afternoon, was announced in a statement by the zone’s Administrative Affairs Bureau on Saturday. The statement was also released through the Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS).
The in-depth cooperation zone’s governance consists of a management committee and an executive committee.
The management committee is the zone’s top decision-making body run under a dual director system, jointly led by the governor of Guangdong Province and the chief executive of the MSAR. The zone’s executive committee, which is run under the management committee, is the body tasked with the zone’s daily functioning and execution of tasks.
There are nine bureaux administered under the zone’s executive committee, including the Administrative Affairs Bureau.
According to Saturday’s statement, the meeting was chaired by Li Chong, one of the five deputy directors of the zone’s executive committee. Macau Policy Research and Regional Development Bureau (DSEPDR) Director Cheong Chok Man led a delegation of officials from his bureau and other Macau public entities to attend the meeting where he presented details about Macau’s drafting of its 3rd Five-Year Plan.
The DSEPDR is the public entity tasked with the drafting of Macau’s 3rd Five-Year Plan.
The MSAR’s 3rd Five-Year Plan, officially known as 3rd Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development, covers the period between 2026 and 2030.
Drafting of Macau’s 3rd Five-Year Plan is this year’s top priority
According to the statement, Cheong listened to opinions and suggestions raised by representatives from various segments of Hengqin’s civil society and answered their questions, including those from leading enterprises and those from Macau-invested enterprises in Hengqin, as well as Macau residents living in Hengqin who care about and support the Macau-Hengqin integrated development.
During the meeting, according to the statement, Cheong underlined that it is the top priority of the MSAR government this year to ensure the effective drawing-up and implementation of Macau’s 3rd Five-Year Plan in close alignment with the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan and in line with Macau’s own situation.
Cheong said that the 3rd Five-Year Plan aims to ensure that Macau will resolutely put into practice the spirit of President Xi Jinping’s various important speeches made during his inspection visit to Macau in December 2024, align with the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan, implement the policies and measures outlined by the candidacy platform of Sam Hou Fai when he ran in the chief executive election in 2024 as the sole candidate, and strengthen coordinated and integrated development with neighbouring regions. Sam took office as the MSAR’s chief executive on December 20, 2024.
According to the statement, Cheong pledged that on the basis of reviewing the results in the implementation of Macau’s 2nd Five-Year Plan, the Macau government will draft the 3rd Five-Year Plan with a problem-orientated and pragmatic approach after fully listening to opinions from various segments of civil society while taking Macau’s own situation into account.
Hengqin an ‘important component’ of Macau’s 3rd Five-Year Plan
Cheong noted that advancing the high-quality development of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin will be an “important component” of Macau’s 3rd Five-Year Plan, requiring the joint efforts and active participation of the governments and civil society from both sides.
According to the statement, 20 representatives raised their opinions and suggestions during the meeting, covering topics such as planning alignment, industrial synergy, flows of production factors, greater convenience for people’s daily lives, immigration clearance, and employment. The representatives, according to the statement, said they expect Macau’s 3rd Five-Year Plan to fully present new ways of thinking and to outline new measures for the Macau-Hengqin integrated development, providing clearer direction and stronger support for the synergistic development of both sides.
Cheong pledged that the Macau government will carefully sort out the representatives’ opinions and thoroughly study them before effectively incorporating them into the drawing-up of Macau’s 3rd Five-Year Plan, with the aim of ensuring that the plan can be implemented and will deliver tangible results.
Original intent to develop Hengqin
According to the statement, Li Chong, one of the five deputy directors of the in-depth cooperation zone’s executive committee, noted during the meeting that the original intent to develop Hengqin is to serve Macau’s appropriate economic diversification and foster its long-term prosperity and stability.
Li said that the inclusion of the Macau-Hengqin integrated development as an important component in Macau’s 3rd Five-Year Plan fully demonstrates the MSAR government’s strategic vision with a long-term perspective and its determination to advance the in-depth cooperation zone’s ongoing second-phase development.
The statement pledged that the in-depth cooperation zone’s executive committee will strengthen communication and coordination with the MSAR government’s respective public entities, with the aim of promoting closer alignment between the development plans of Macau and Hengqin, stronger coordination of policies between the two places, and more efficient implementation of business and infrastructure projects.
The two handout photos released by Hengqin’s Administrative Affairs Bureau on Saturday shows Macau Policy Research and Regional Development Bureau (DSEPDR) Director Cheong Chok Man (up) and Li Chong, one of the five deputy directors of Hengqin’s executive committee, addressing Friday’s meeting.
