China announces visa schemes for foreigners in Macau to enter Hengqin
A Chinese diplomatic official has announced at a forum in Macau that visas will become available to facilitate foreigners’ entries to Hengqin alone.
The announcement was made by Commissioner Liu Xianfa of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the city at the Macao Urban Transformation and Development Dialogue forum co-hosted by the Ministry’s Office in Macau and the city’s government.
A district in Zhuhai city of Guangdong Province in the southern coast of China, Hengqin, now branded as the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone, has been positioned by Beijing as key to supporting Macau’s diversified development.
As such, the administration has expressed its desire to attract global talent to the Zone. Given the backdrop, as Liu announced, a visa facilitation policy for foreigners in Macau will be enacted to foster progress.
The policy will take place from tomorrow, September 1.
Permanent residents of Macau of foreign nationalities will be eligible to apply for multiple-entry visas that are valid for five years. Non-permanent residents will be eligible to apply for multiple-entry visas that are valid for the validity of their Macau IDs.
Specialized non-resident workers will be eligible to apply for multiple-entry visas with a validity period of a year. Foreign visitors to Macau who have the need to visit Hengqin for convention and exhibition purposes will be eligible for multiple visas that are valid for three months.
Full information will be made available on the website of the Ministry’s Office in Macau.
Dialogue discusses Macau’s future
During the same forum session, local and foreign representatives spoke online and offline about experiences of development and the blueprints of Macau’s future.
While opening the forum, Liu said, “General Secretary Xi Jinping has always attached great importance to Macau’s prosperity and development and the well-being of people of Macau, while stressing that the motherland stands firm behind Macau’s long-term prosperity and stability.”
Liu also highlighted that Xi had personally planned for and promoted the development of the Zone in Hengqin, adding that Macau’s transformation and development calls for strategic planning, independent innovation, talent support, institutional guarantee and youth cultivation.
He also believes that Macau would have a better future as the city further integrates into the mainland and works out its positions and strengths.
In the meantime, Macau Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong has expressed his belief that the insights of various sides on implementing the Global Development Initiative and promoting economic diversification and transformation will instil more valuable inspirations for Macau’s future development, in particular for the city to bring about further development of the Zone.
He added that the inspiration will help speed up the development of a moderately diversified and sustainable industrial structure that suits Macau’s realities in the direction previously set, while stabilizing the economy and ensuring people’s well-being.
The insights will also contribute to benefiting the people and stabilizing employment in the process of promoting economic transformation and upgrading, Lei said.
Deputy Director Zhang Rongshun of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region noted that Beijing had explicitly put forward and firmly supported Macau’s moderate economic diversification and transformation, as well as introducing a series of important policies regarding the repositioning of Macau, in addition to the developments of Hengqin and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Former Japanese chief cabinet secretary Takeo Kawamura and businessperson Maruta Masayuki anticipated the two sides stepping up exchange on industrial diversification and support for Japanese companies to invest and set up businesses in the Zone in Hengqin.
Julie Becker, CEO of the Luxemburg Stock Exchange, spoke on the development of the modern finance industry and shared the experience of Luxemburg becoming the European financial center. Cooperation programs between the Luxemburg Stock Exchange and the Chinese side serve as a successful example of the diversified development of the modern finance industry.
CEO Fahad Al Gergawi of Dubai Investment Development Agency and CEO Abdulla Bin Damithan of the DP World UAE & Jafza pointed out that the success of Dubai’s economic diversification lies in continued policy support, a long-term perspective, strategic goals and follow-up measures.
Park Joo-Bong, vice-minister level government official in Korea and Lee Si Young, chairman of Korea-China Cultural Exchange Foundation, proposed four suggestions on the transformation and upgrade of small and medium enterprises.
