Xia Baolong, who heads both the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office (HKMWO) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO) of the State Council, paid a four-day fact-finding visit to Zhuhai City, including Hengqin, between Monday and yesterday, according to a HKMWO-HKMAO statement.
Xia’s tour, according to the statement, focused on the central authorities’ initiatives to support Hong Kong and Macau in proactively aligning with the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan, deeply participating in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), and better integrating into and serving the nation’s overall development.
The 11-member GBA consists of nine prefecture-level cities in Guangdong Province and the nation’s two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
The province comprises a total of 21 prefecture-level cities.
The 106-square-kilometre Hengqin island 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 neighbouring city of Zhuhai, which covers 1,725 square kilometres, is one of the nine Guangdong GBA cities.
According to yesterday’s HKMWO-HKMAO statement, Xu Qifang, the HKMWO-HKMAO executive deputy director, and Zheng Xincong, the director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the MSAR, joined Xia’s four-day fact-finding visit, while MSAR Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai participated in Xia’s fact-finding tour when it took place in the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
Zheng is also one of the four currently serving HKMWO-HKMAO deputy directors.
The photos released together with the statement show that Secretary for Administration and Justice Wong Sio Chak, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Wallis O Lam, and Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raymond Tam Vai Man also joined Xia’s inspection tour in Hengqin.
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.
The statement listed 11 facilities or projects that Xia visited during his four-day inspection tour, comprising seven in Hengqin and four in other areas in Zhuhai.
The seven facilities or projects in Hengqin comprise the Macau International Airport Hengqin Upstream Cargo Terminal, Smilebiotek Company Limited, Guangdong Institute of Intelligence Science and Technology (GDIIST), Macau-Hengqin International Education (University) Town Phase One, City University of Macau’s (CityU) Advanced Research Institute (Hengqin), Macau University of Science and Technology’s (MUST) Innovation Technology Research Institute, and Hengqin International Film Studio.
The four facilities located in other areas in Zhuhai comprise Zhuhai Silicool Technology Company Limited, Bay-Area Corporation of Low Altitude, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, and the National Local Chronicles Museum’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Branch.
Meanwhile, the Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) said in a statement last night that Sam met with Hebei Province Governor Wang Zhengpu at Macau Government Headquarters yesterday where they exchanged views on topics such as leveraging Macau’s role as a business service platform and deepening exchange and cooperation between Hebei and Macau across various fields.
The northern province has 75 million inhabitants.
This photo released yesterday shows Xia Baolong (front, centre), director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office (HKMWO) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO), looking at a robot in the City University of Macau Advanced Research Institute (Hengqin) during his four-day inspection visit to Zhuhai including Hengqin. – Photo: HKMWO-HKMAO
This photo released yesterday shows Xia Baolong (front, centre), director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office (HKMWO) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO), exchanging views with MSAR Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai (front, left) while inspecting the ongoing Macau International Airport Hengqin Upstream Cargo Terminal project during his four-day fact-finding visit to Zhuhai including Hengqin. – Photo: HKMWO-HKMAO
