Macao's four-year practices of the Chinese principle of "one country, two systems" have proved that the policy guarantee is the mainstay of Macao's development, Macao's Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah said Saturday.

Delivering a speech at a banquet held by the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government to mark the fourth anniversary of the establishment of the Macao SAR, Ho said that the Macao people experienced an extraordinary period of social and economic development over the past four years, in which they witnessed the success of Macao's high-degree of autonomy.

The young Macao SAR government has grown up after overcoming many challenges to secure a smooth social and economic transformation, said Ho.

The Macao SAR government has every reason to expect a rosy picture in the last year of its term.

The year 2004, or the fifth year of the administration by the first generation of the Macao SAR government will witness the implementation of the Mainland/Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), the launch of Macao's first cross-border industrial park, the deepening of the mainland's facilitated individual travel (FIT) policy on Hong Kong and Macao-bounded tours as well as the opening of casinos by two foreign casino operators, which will be the first of such practices in Macao's history.

As Macao celebrated the fourth anniversary of the establishment of the Macao SAR Saturday, its economic growth for 2004 is tipped to maintain the high growth rate of 9 percent, which was the forecast for 2003, or even higher.

Although the economy experienced an epidemic-inflicted setback in the second quarter this year, it rebounded fast in the third quarter to break a monthly record of a 24.6 percent growth due to a strong increase of income from the gaming and tourist industries during the summer travel season, which rose by 43 percent and 8.6 percent respectively over the corresponding period of last year.

The Statistics and Census Services' latest statistics showed that tourist arrivals in Macao in the first 11 months soared up 34.2 percent over the corresponding period of last year to 5.06 million, which was largely attributed to the effect of the FIT policy first piloted in south China's Guangdong Province in July, and extended later to Beijing and Shanghai.

Ambrose So, general manager of the Macao Gaming Co. told Xinhua that the mammoth tourist flow to Macao will propel a new take-off of Macao's century-old gaming market, which has a history 84 years older than that of Las Vegas.

The industry rejuvenated last year through a government-run bidding of casino operation licenses reaped 22.4 billion patacas (US$2.8 billion) in the first 10 months, and is set to contribute close to 10 billion patacas (US$1.1 billion) in tax this year, according to Francis Tam Pak Yuen, secretary for economy and finance last week.

Ambrose So's company, which runs all 12 casinos operating now in Macao will soon face an fierce competition from two foreign rivals, the Las Vegas-based Wynn Resort and a joint-venture headed by the Galaxy Resort and Casino, both of which were new entrants through the bidding. Galaxy unveiled on Wednesday a 1.1-billion-US-dollar plan for building casinos and hotels in Macao.

Despite the company's pending pressure from foreign participants, So believes that the industry that is entering a new round of growth period can create enough room for the growth.

Looking into the future, So said that the FIT policy has already expanded the mainland's source of tourists to Macao; the feasibility of a cross-sea bridge threading up Hong Kong, Macao and Zhuhai City in Guangdong Province is expected to shorten the distance between Macao and HK's international airport to about half an hour; and CEPA will help create cooperation opportunities between Macao and the mainland.

Bai Zhijian, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR said that the young Macao SAR government has pinned down a pragmatic policy orientation for Macao, and shown its specialty in carrying out a smooth social and economic transformation, which has made Macao more appealing than ever for foreign investment and cross-border cooperation.

Macao will be benefited from a number of state-level projects, which will connect Macao closer with the other competitive parties of Guangdong and Hong Kong in the Pearl River Delta Region through the building of convenient transportation and communication networks.

In the next few years, over 30 billion patacas (US$3.8 billion) of investment will be pooled on the 26.8 sq km of land, which enjoys a high degree of autonomy under China's principle of "one country, two systems".

(Xinhua News Agency December 21, 2003)