Macao SAR Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai delivers 1st policy address

Chief Executive of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Sam Hou Fai delivered the 2025 fiscal year policy address on Monday, stressing innovation for development and forging ahead into a new era.

The address, Sam's first policy speech since he took office, emphasized that it is essential to accurately understand changes, respond to them scientifically, and proactively seek transformation in the face of longstanding issues and emerging challenges.

Solutions must be grounded in Macao's realities, stabilizing the economic fundamentals, invigorating economic vitality, strengthening expectation management, and expanding new development space, Sam said.

The report underscored the need to enhance coordination mechanisms and open a new chapter in the SAR's development. It set the integration of Macao and Hengqin as a goal, with efforts to advance the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.

The policy address defined the overall direction for governance in 2025 as enhancing diversification, improving livelihoods, strengthening governance, and integrating into national development. It also laid out the SAR's primary development targets and outlined five key policy priority areas.