With cheerful vibes in the air, China\u2019s Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Friday held a gathering to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Macao\u2019s return to the motherland and the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of the Macao SAR.<\/p>\n
Addressing attendees, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the great achievements of Macao since its return have proven to the world that \u201cOne Country, Two Systems\u201d has prominent institutional strengths and tremendous vitality.<\/p>\n
The values of peace, inclusiveness, openness and sharing embodied in the policy are common to China and the rest of the world, and deserve to be jointly safeguarded, Xi added.<\/p>\n
\u2018Tremendous success\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Xi hailed the enormous transformation that has taken place in Macao since its return to the motherland in 1999, saying the practice of \u201cOne Country, Two Systems\u201d with Macao characteristics has been a tremendous success.<\/p>\n In 2023, Macao\u2019s GDP amounted to approximately 379.5 billion MOP (around $47.4 billion), an increase of seven times compared to 1999, while per capita GDP had more than quadrupled to around $70,000. On Forbes magazine\u2019s 2024 list of the world\u2019s richest places, Macao ranked first in Asia and second globally.<\/p>\n The city boasted an average life expectancy of 83.1 years in 2023, up from 77.9 years old in 1999, among the highest globally. Its unemployment rate has averaged below 2 percent since 2012, signaling nearly full employment.<\/p>\n Tourism has also expanded dramatically, from 6.6 million visitors in 1999 to 39.4 million in 2019. By December 7, the city had welcomed over 32 million tourists this year \u2013 a 26 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The number is expected to hit 33 million by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n \u2018New stage\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Stressing that the practice of \u201cOne Country, Two Systems\u201d has entered a new stage,\u00a0<\/strong>Xi on Friday called on the new SAR government to promote the appropriate diversification of the local economy, improve governance efficiency, build a platform for higher-level opening up, and safeguard social harmony and stability.<\/p>\n Under the \u201cOne Country, Two Systems\u201d framework, Macao SAR enjoys distinct advantages, including its status as a free trade port, a separate customs territory, and a simple and low-tax environment. The World Trade Organization recognizes Macao as one of the most open economies in the world for trade and investment.<\/p>\n China\u2019s central government has taken into full consideration the SAR\u2019s unique position, encouraging it to integrate into the national development strategy and ensure it plays a better role in the nation\u2019s opening up. Cooperative mechanisms and infrastructure \u2013 such as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin \u2013 have provided Macao with development headroom and rich opportunities.<\/p>\n With support from the central government, Macao has signed nearly 60 agreements with foreign countries and established robust economic, trade and cultural ties with over 120 countries and regions. The number of international organizations and institutions Macao participates in has increased to more than 190, and it has secured visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 147 countries and regions. It also has 13 sister cities.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Macao\u2019s contribution to the Belt and Road Initiative has injected new vitality into the global economy. In 2023, the value of goods delivered by Macao to Belt and Road partner countries reached MOP 770 million, up 47.8 percent year on year, and the value of imports from the Belt and Road partners was MOP 30.92 billion, up 18.0 percent year on year.<\/p>\n Last year, Macao and Hengqin formed a joint delegation to go abroad to attract investment. Nearly 350 business matchmaking meetings were held in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Portugal, Spain and other countries, and 17 cooperation agreements were signed.<\/p>\n In his speech, Xi voiced confidence that Macao SAR will open up new horizons for development and keep creating new glories, as long as \u201cOne Country, Two Systems\u201d is comprehensively, accurately and unwaveringly implemented.<\/p>\n The post Macao SAR embarks on new chapter of \u2018One Country, Two Systems\u2019<\/a> appeared first on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With cheerful vibes in the air, China\u2019s Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Friday held a gathering to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Macao\u2019s return to the motherland and the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of the Macao SAR. Addressing attendees, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the great achievements of Macao since its return […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}