MACAU - A cross-border
industrial park between Macau Special Administrative
Region (SAR) and Zhuhai, in southern China's Guangdong
province, was officially launched here on Tuesday.
The park is the first of its kind for the
land-stringent Macau to seek external cooperation to
diversify its industrial structure.
An inauguration ceremony for the
park was jointly presided by Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho
Hau-wah and Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua.
China's
State Council gave a green light to build
the 400,000-square-meter park on reclaimed seashore in
the border area of Zhuhai and Macau this month.
The park, which will be managed in mode of a
bonded zone, will enjoy advantages of cheap labor from
the mainland and Macau's facilitated trade access to the
mainland as well as its traditional markets in America
and Europe to develop brand textile products and
garments mainly for export.
With a land area of
25 square kilometers, Macau, famous for its tourism,
hopes that the industrial park will help it overcome its
geographic limit and foster more diversified industries
for sustainable development, making full use of
favorable policies brought by the mainland/Macau Closer
Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), which was
signed in October.
Huang said exploration
on the management mode of the park will provide
experiences for Macau and Zhuhai to engage in the
ensuing joint exploration of the Hengqin Islands in
Zhuhai, which is adjacent to Macau.
Sources
with the Macau Secretariat of Economic and Finance said
it has received inquiries from overseas manufacturers on
setting up shop in the park, which is most attractive
for those engaged in textile, garment and electronic
businesses.
(Asia Pulse/XIC)
Dec 11, 2003
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