Annexes to JOIN(2023)29 - Macao Annual Report for 2022 - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | JOIN(2023)29 - Macao Annual Report for 2022. |
|---|---|
| document | JOIN(2023)29 |
| date | August 18, 2023 |
Economic integration within mainland China
As most pandemic restrictions had been lifted by the end of the year, Macao aimed to regain its position as a centre for tourism and leisure and to develop into a hub for business and financial services, notably between mainland China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
In September 2022, Macao and Guangdong province agreed to strengthen cooperation on supervising medical devices, social security and government services, education and innovation.
The Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone is a territory of about 100 square kilometres located in Hengqin in mainland China, and jointly administered by Guangdong and Macao16. Its purpose is to enable Macao’s economic diversification and to deepen economic and legal integration within mainland China, in line with the priorities of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan outlined above.
Macao’s integration with mainland China received a significant boost in December when the central government announced that non-commercial vehicles from Macao would be allowed to enter Guangdong province from 1 January 2023 under the Northbound Travel for Macao Vehicles policy.
III. Relations between Macao and mainland China
Following the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China in October, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng asked different sectors of the local society to study ‘the spirit of the 20th National Congress’17.
Chief Executive Ho met President Xi Jinping on two occasions in 2022: in the margins of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China, and on the occasion of a duty visit to Beijing.
Significant personnel changes took place in 2022. In March, the central government appointed Fu Ziying, the former director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government, as the National Security Affairs Adviser to the Committee for Safeguarding National Security in Macao. In May, the former vice governor of Fujian province and deputy director of the Liaison Office, Zheng Xincong was appointed Head of the Liaison Office and National Security Affairs Adviser.
IV. EU-Macao bilateral relations and cooperation in 2022
The 1992 Agreement for Trade and Cooperation between the European Economic Community and Macao aimed to further strengthen the relationship between the EU and Macao. It covers cooperation with respect to trade, the economy, science and technology.
The EU-Macao Joint Committee is a platform for dialogue between Macao and the EU in a number of areas. The 23rd Joint Committee meeting was held in 2019, but no further meetings have taken place, despite EU requests.
In the first 11 months of 2022, the EU overtook mainland China to become Macao’s largest trading partner in goods, accounting for 30% of the SAR’s total trade in that period. EU-Macao bilateral trade is almost exclusively (more than 95%) composed of exports to the EU, with around 33% of Macao’s imports originating in the EU.
Based on Eurostat data, EU bilateral trade in goods with Macao in the first 11 months of 2022 amounted to EUR 1 147 million (less than a 1% increase over 2021). EU exports to Macao, which consisted mostly of luxury goods, leather articles, clothing and apparel, and watches and jewellery, amounted to EUR 1 100 million, and resulted in a trade surplus of EUR 1 053 million.
The EU remained Macao’s fourth-largest source of foreign investment in 2021 (excluding offshore centres), after Hong Kong, mainland China and the US. According to Macao’s official statistics, the EU accounted for 5.8% of the total foreign direct investment (FDI) stock in 2021 (excluding offshore centres). Portugal alone accounted for 88% of EU investment in the SAR. According to Eurostat, EU FDI stocks in Macao accounted for EUR 1.42 billion as of the end of 202118, while Macao FDI stocks in the EU amounted to EUR 1.85 billion.
1 In the casino world, a 'junket' is a short-term travel programme arranged by a junket operator to attract high-wealth gamblers to Macao, largely from mainland China.
2 https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/3/192590/Macau%E2%80%99s-Covid-zero-plan-now-targets-city%E2%80%99s-Filipino-workers.
3 https://www.dsec.gov.mo/ts/#!/step2/KeyIndicator/en-US/240.
4 https://www.al.gov.mo/pt/law/year/507.
5 https://www.al.gov.mo/pt/law/lawcase/553.
6 https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news/section/11/249158/18-years-in-jail-for-junket-king
7 https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=2572&Lang=en
8 https://www.al.gov.mo/pt/law/lawcase/553
9 https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CCPR%2FC%2FCHN-MAC%2FCO%2F2&Lang=en
10 https://www.gov.mo/pt/consulta-de-politicas/consulta-publica-sobre-a-lei-sindical/
11 https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-trafficking-in-persons-report/macau/
12 Source: Statistics and Census Service, Government of Macao Special Administration Region (SAR), available at: https://www.dsec.gov.mo/en-US/.
13 Converted to euro using the December 2021 InforEuro exchange rate.
14‘Recovery During a Pandemic: health concerns, supply disruptions, and price pressures’, October 2021, https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2021/10/12/world-economic-outlook-october-2021.
15 Exports of gaming services are measured as the expenditure of non-residents on gaming.
16 The Hengqin cooperation zone is located at the southern edge of the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai. Only a strip of water separates the zone from Macao, and a bridge links the two together.
17 https://macaudailytimes.com.mo/ho-iat-seng-to-fully-implement-spirit-of-national-congress-report.html
18 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/BOP_FDI6_GEO__custom_6643309/default/table?lang=en
EN EN