Macao's four-year practices of the Chinese principle of "one
country, two systems" have proved that the policy guarantee is the
mainstay of Macao's development, Macao's Chief Executive Edmund Ho
Hau Wah said Saturday.
Delivering a speech at a banquet held by the Macao Special
Administrative Region (SAR) government to mark the fourth
anniversary of the establishment of the Macao SAR, Ho said that the
Macao people experienced an extraordinary period of social and
economic development over the past four years, in which they
witnessed the success of Macao's high-degree of autonomy.
The young Macao SAR government has grown up after overcoming
many challenges to secure a smooth social and economic
transformation, said Ho.
The Macao SAR government has every reason to expect a rosy
picture in the last year of its term.
The year 2004, or the fifth year of the administration by the
first generation of the Macao SAR government will witness the
implementation of the Mainland/Macao Closer Economic Partnership
Arrangement (CEPA), the launch of Macao's first cross-border
industrial park, the deepening of the mainland's facilitated
individual travel (FIT) policy on Hong Kong and Macao-bounded tours
as well as the opening of casinos by two foreign casino operators,
which will be the first of such practices in Macao's history.
As Macao celebrated the fourth anniversary of the establishment
of the Macao SAR Saturday, its economic growth for 2004 is tipped
to maintain the high growth rate of 9 percent, which was the
forecast for 2003, or even higher.
Although the economy experienced an epidemic-inflicted setback
in the second quarter this year, it rebounded fast in the third
quarter to break a monthly record of a 24.6 percent growth due to a
strong increase of income from the gaming and tourist industries
during the summer travel season, which rose by 43 percent and 8.6
percent respectively over the corresponding period of last
year.
The Statistics and Census Services' latest statistics showed
that tourist arrivals in Macao in the first 11 months soared up
34.2 percent over the corresponding period of last year to 5.06
million, which was largely attributed to the effect of the FIT
policy first piloted in south China's Guangdong
Province in July, and extended later to Beijing and
Shanghai.
Ambrose So, general manager of the Macao Gaming Co. told Xinhua
that the mammoth tourist flow to Macao will propel a new take-off
of Macao's century-old gaming market, which has a history 84 years
older than that of Las Vegas.
The industry rejuvenated last year through a government-run
bidding of casino operation licenses reaped 22.4 billion patacas
(US$2.8 billion) in the first 10 months, and is set to contribute
close to 10 billion patacas (US$1.1 billion) in tax this year,
according to Francis Tam Pak Yuen, secretary for economy and
finance last week.
Ambrose So's company, which runs all 12 casinos operating now in
Macao will soon face an fierce competition from two foreign rivals,
the Las Vegas-based Wynn Resort and a joint-venture headed by the
Galaxy Resort and Casino, both of which were new entrants through
the bidding. Galaxy unveiled on Wednesday a 1.1-billion-US-dollar
plan for building casinos and hotels in Macao.
Despite the company's pending pressure from foreign
participants, So believes that the industry that is entering a new
round of growth period can create enough room for the growth.
Looking into the future, So said that the FIT policy has already
expanded the mainland's source of tourists to Macao; the
feasibility of a cross-sea bridge threading up Hong Kong, Macao and
Zhuhai City in Guangdong Province is expected to shorten the
distance between Macao and HK's international airport to about half
an hour; and CEPA will help create cooperation opportunities
between Macao and the mainland.
Bai Zhijian, director of the Liaison Office of the Central
People's Government in the Macao SAR said that the young Macao SAR
government has pinned down a pragmatic policy orientation for
Macao, and shown its specialty in carrying out a smooth social and
economic transformation, which has made Macao more appealing than
ever for foreign investment and cross-border cooperation.
Macao will be benefited from a number of state-level projects,
which will connect Macao closer with the other competitive parties
of Guangdong and Hong Kong in the Pearl River Delta Region through
the building of convenient transportation and communication
networks.
In the next few years, over 30 billion patacas (US$3.8 billion)
of investment will be pooled on the 26.8 sq km of land, which
enjoys a high degree of autonomy under China's principle of "one
country, two systems".
(Xinhua News Agency December 21, 2003)
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