As an effort to shore up Macao's gaming-centered economy in the face of global financial crisis, and help it diversify in the long run, China's central government has stepped up its move to open the vast mainland market to the Special Administrative Region (SAR) through a series of trade deals and policy measures.

The Supplement VI to the Mainland and Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA6), which was signed here on Monday by Tam Pak Yuen, secretary for economy and finance of the SAR government and the central government's Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Zengwei, was the latest effort by the mainland to support the development of the SAR and forge closer trade ties between the two places, especially that between Macao and the neighboring Guangdong province.

The CEPA between the mainland and the Macao SAR was firstly signed in 2003 and took effect in the following year, after which some six supplement protocols to the trade agreement have been signed so far as a step-by-step effort to open the mainland market to Macao.

Driven by the implementation of CEPA and its supplementary protocols, the liberalization of various sectors in the mainland market to Macao was deepened every year after 2003. In particular, the mainland authorities have exempt tariffs for all products, except for those banned and specially designated, of Macao origin. Statistics from the SAR government also showed that some 500 Macao companies and individually-owned businesses were established in the mainland by the end of last year. The number of Macao residents passing the qualification exams of various professions in the mainland, such as law, medical practice, cooking, hair dressing, etc, was also on the rise in recent years.

The SAR's tourism is one area that benefited the most from the signing of CEPA, as over 30 million mainland visitor arrivals traveling under the "individual visit scheme", a visa arrangement for residents in major mainland cities to make trips to the SAR, have been logged since CEPA took effect in 2004. The "individual visit scheme" is part of the measures included in CEPA.

Figures from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the SAR's visitor arrivals totaled 22.91 million last year, with the majority of visitors came from the mainland at 11.6 million, of which 57 percent were visitors traveling under the "individual visit scheme".

To further boost the SAR's tourism, mainland residents traveling in group tours to Taiwan will be allowed to enter Macao SAR in transit, under the newly-signed Supplement VI, despite the fact that the mainland authorities has previously tightened the visa arrangement for residents directly traveling to Macao, limiting their trips to the SAR in a year.

The Supplement VI provides more favorable conditions for the SAR to diversify its economy while giving better support for the healthy and sustainable development of local economy, said Tam Pak Yuen after signing the latest supplementary protocol on Monday.

Aside from the tourism sector, the new measures included in the Supplement VI, which will take effect on Oct. 1, 2009, mainly concern industries of MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Convention, Exhibition), and medical services.

In terms of the MICE industry, which is a prominent industry in the SAR's effort to diversify its economy, service providers in the SAR will be allowed to organize exhibitions in the form of cross-border supply in major Chinese municipality, such as Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing, and provinces including Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian on a pilot basis, in addition to Guangdong province and Shanghai which has already been opened to the SAR.

Meanwhile, the new supplementary protocol also lowers the entrance requirements for medical services sector. Macao service provider will also be allowed to run health clinics and work as pharmacists respectively in the mainland, as long as they acquire relevant licenses.

Before the signing of the Supplement VI, the central government has already launched nine measures concerning six areas, including finance, infrastructure, regional cooperation, funding Macao's small-and-medium-sized enterprises, ensuring Macao's food supply, etc, at the end of last year, which not only were aimed to help Macao tide over the economic downturn, but further promote the integration of the Pearl River Delta region in Southern China, which mainly include the Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macao.

The central government will "unswervingly support Macao to overcome its difficulties and maintain a stable economic development," said China's Premier Wen Jiabao when meeting the SAR's Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah previously in Beijing.

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2009)