Fifteen European countries have decided to give free visa treatment to those holding Macao passports, the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government announced Friday.

Among them are Iceland, Norway, and 13 European Union (EU) countries except Britain and Ireland.

The EU countries made the decision, which will become effective in 20 days after promulgation, at an executive council meeting Friday. The EU representative in Hong Kong informed the Macao SAR government of the news by phone.

Macao passport holders can stay in each of the 15 countries for 90 days after receiving the free visa treatment. In line with the principle of fairness, people with passports of those countries are also permitted to be in Macao for 90 days, compared with the current 30 days, according to Florinda da Rosa Silva Chan, secretary for administration and justice of the SAR government.

The number of Macao residents with the SAR passports has reached 60,000, out of a population of some 430,000.

(People’s Daily 03/17/2001)