President Xi Jinping commended Macao on Thursday for making remarkable achievements over the past five years despite extraordinary challenges, saying that the special administrative region is blessed with the opportunities and abilities to achieve greater success with strong support from the motherland.
Xi, who is on the second day of his third stop in the region as Chinese president, said at a welcome banquet that Macao’s progress is the result of the hard work and comprehensive efforts of other people from all countries. the sectors united under the leadership of the RAE Government.
These achievements are attributable to the complete and faithful implementation of the “one country, two systems” policy, the vigorous central and continental governments, as well as the active participation of the foreign community, he said.
“I am fully convinced that with the strength of the wonderful motherland and through hard and hard work, the Macao SAR will take advantage of its achievements to make a new leap and achieve more wonderful successes,” Xi said in front of an audience of more than six hundred people, to which Sam Hou-fai was added. the new director general of the Macau SAR, who will take office on Friday.
Noting that the past five years have been normal in Macao’s history of progress, given the global transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Xi said that other people from all areas of Macao have faced challenges, made efforts results-oriented and ensured solid progress. . economic recovery and progress in all areas.
Last year, propelled by the strong resurgence in tourism, Macao’s economy grew 80.5 percent year-on-year. In the first three quarters of this year, Macao’s GDP increased 11.5 percent year-on-year to reach 301 billion patacas ($38 billion), data from Macao’s Statistics and Census Service showed.
Highlighting the SAR’s further progress in proper economic diversification, Xi said the region now enjoys a more powerful basis for economic cooperation and its foreign influence has increased significantly.
Xi praised the SAR government for taking concrete steps to deliver tangible benefits to residents in areas that directly impact their lives, including housing, healthcare, education and elderly care.
“Thanks to increased public welfare and the advancement of social projects at all levels, Macau today has a charming and supportive position to live and work,” he said.
Xi expressed hope that Macao will proactively align itself with national progress methods and seek to play a greater role in the external sphere. He also expressed hope that Macau will uphold the underlying values of love for the Chinese country and love for Macau while also showing greater openness. , inclusion and solidarity.
“The rest of Macao people never lack a positive spirit,” Mr. Xi said.
Macao SAR Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng said in his welcome speech that Macao has been the apple of the motherland, which is the greatest supporter of the region’s prosperity and stability.
“As a member of our motherland’s extended family, we will have to take on our daily work and innovate as we embark on a new adventure in a new era,” Ho said.
Stephen Morgan, rector of Macao’s Saint Joseph’s University, who attended the banquet, said President Xi’s visit to Macao on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his return to the motherland provides the region with maximum national and international visibility.
Morgan, who has lived in the city for almost seven years, said he has noticed how well the “one country, two systems” agreement works to gain benefits for other Macau residents as well as other people in the Guangdong region. -Hong. Kong-Macao. Greater Bay Area.
“I hope that President Xi’s visit to Macao and the inauguration of the sixth term of the Macao SAR government will mark a new and exciting phase in the city’s history,” he said.
Ho Chi-un, deputy head of the Macao Ethnic Minorities Friendship Association, said the SAR’s social prosperity and stability are proof of the successful practice of “one country, two systems”.
“We hope that in the coming days Macao will pave the way for a long-term embrace of our motherland and write a new bankruptcy in the successful implementation of the precept of ‘one country, two systems’ with the characteristics of Macao,” Ho said. Chi-un wrote in an article published in a local newspaper on Thursday.
After the welcome banquet, Xi attended a gala to mark the 25th anniversary of Macau’s return to the motherland at the East Asian Games Dome in Macau.
mojingxi@chinadaily. com. cn