Several lawmakers have decided to make their opinions and suggestions public on the “Development Plan for Appropriate Economic Diversification of the Macao Special Administrative Region (2024-2028).”
The plan’s public consultation period commenced last Friday. At the Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday, lawmakers Ella Lei, Ma Io Fong, and Ho Ion Sang expressed their opinions on the plan in the time before the agenda of the plenary session.
Lawmaker Ella Lei said she had identified several flaws in the plan concerning the lack of a clear path for key industries. This flaw affects all industries in the plan except for the financial sector, which is the only one clearly defined, according to the lawmaker.
“The consultation text includes several key indicators on the development of adequate diversification of the economy. However, it only uses expressions such as ‘maintaining growth’ and ‘recorded increases’ for some projects, lacking clear and measurable indicators,” she said.
“There is still a lack of specific policies and measures and guidance regarding the direction of development for the training and reserve of talent and human resources necessary for the development of different industries.”
The lawmaker noted the government had dedicated a specific chapter to the financial sector, unlike to other sectors, where the authorities had defined the work plan for the development of teams.
The work plan includes information on pre-employment education, training through internships, educational promotion, on-the-job training and professional accreditation. Regarding this, she said the objectives and contents are “more specific and allow a clearer vision of the sector’s development prospects, the direction of policy and the means of participation.”
As for the other sectors and industries, Lei said, “I hope that this can be taken as a reference to improve the content regarding other sectors, such as the technological innovation sector, instead of simply proposing further training.”
Also missing from the plan, according to the lawmaker, is information on how the government will promote the professional development and diversification of residents’ employment choices through practical programs, allowing them to participate in the development of the four main industries.
In turn, lawmaker Ma said that in respect of additional training for workers, the increase in quality and improvements to the economic structure depends on education and optimizing conditions and resources at the different education levels.
For Ma, qualified staff can be trained in the non-higher education sector by raising professional levels and the capacity of the educational teams as well as the contents in areas such as scientific innovation, noting “this is the only way to achieve the healthy and sustainable development of the city and industry. Only then can society enjoy the fruits of adequate diversification of the economy.”
Ma proposes to revive the technical and professional education system, focusing on the key industries to rapidly attain more qualified local staff.
In praise of the plan, Ho noted only the need for the public services to quickly adapt to this “great plan” by providing more concrete execution plans as well as a timeline for each aspect. Ho also suggested creating a revision and evaluation mechanism to promote the necessary improvements.
