China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Tuesday held a flag-raising ceremony and a reception to mark the 23rd anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland and the establishment of the Macao SAR.
At the reception, Ho Iat Seng, chief executive of China's Macao SAR, called for further efforts to uphold the "One Country, Two Systems" principle and promote the stable and healthy development of Macao SAR in the new era.
Ho Iat Seng, chief executive of China's Macao Special Administrative Region, delivers a speech during a reception held by the Macao SAR government to mark the 23rd anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland at the China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Commercial and Trade Service Platform Complex in Macao, China, December 20, 2022. /Macao SAR government
In his speech, Ho said Macao's economy, the livelihood of its people and local employment had been severely impacted over the past three years amid recurring COVID-19 outbreaks.
"With the strong leadership and support of the central government, the Macao SAR government had always adhered to the national epidemic prevention policy, prioritizing people's safety and health and uniting all sectors of society," he said.
According to the chief executive, the SAR government had launched multiple rounds of financial relief measures to stabilize the economy, safeguard local employment and alleviate people's hardships in the past three years.
The actual expenditure for maintaining the regular welfare for Macao residents was about 68.3 billion patacas ($8.5 billion), and the actual expenditure for providing financial assistance in response to the pandemic was about 32.3 billion patacas, resulting in a total expenditure of approximately 100.6 billion patacas, Ho said.
In his speech, Ho also talked about the SAR government's effort to adhere to the rule of law, effectively safeguard national security, and continuously improve the overall quality and standard of governance in Macao.
The Macao SAR government had worked to ensure firm implementation of the principle of "patriots governing Macao" and facilitated amendments to the Law on Safeguarding National Security, he said.
A reception marking the 23rd anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland is held by the Macao Special Administrative Region government at the China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Commercial and Trade Service Platform Complex in Macao, south China, December 20, 2022. /Macao SAR government
The chief executive highlighted the SAR's efforts to integrate more proactively into the overall national development plan, adding that the Second Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Macao Special Administrative Region had been published to align comprehensively with the national development strategy.
Looking ahead to 2023, Ho said the SAR government would respond to the latest epidemic-related developments to optimize prevention measures as appropriate and implement the 20 adjusted measures and the 10 new measures announced by the state council.
In accordance with overall policy direction, Macao would effectively seize opportunities arising from national development, make good use of the policies and measures introduced by the central government in support of Macao's development, focus on promoting economic recovery, actively improve people's livelihoods, solve the deep-rooted conflicts and problems in economic and social development and better integrate into the overall national development plan, Ho said.
The reception was held by the Macao SAR government and took place at the China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Commercial and Trade Service Platform Complex, with over 350 attendees, including government officials.
Prior to the reception, a flag-raising ceremony was held at the Golden Lotus Square at around 8:00 a.m.
(Cover: A flag-raising ceremony marking the 23rd anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland is held at the Golden Lotus Square in Macao, China, December 20, 2022. /Macao SAR government)