President Hu: motherland reliable backing to Macao's development

Chinese President Hu Jintao delivers a speech during a celebration gathering marking the 5th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland in Macao, south China, on Dec. 20, 2004.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said Monday that facts have proved that the great socialist motherland has always been a reliable backing to Macao's development.

Hu made the remarks while attending the celebrations of the 5th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland and the inauguration of the second-term government of the Macao SAR.

The president said that the past five years have also witnessed increasingly close ties between the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the mainland of China.

The central government attaches great importance to Macao's development, and gives all-out support to its closer exchanges and cooperation with the mainland in all fields, said the Chinese president.

New policies and measures, including the launching of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between the mainland and Macao, allowing individual citizens from certain mainland regions to travel to Macao, establishing the Zhuhai-Macao cross-border industrial zone, and promoting the cooperation between Guangdong Province and Macao and in the Pearl River Delta have added greater vitality and a broader horizon to Macao's development, the president said.

Hu said that meanwhile, the sense of belonging to the Chinese nation has been further enhanced among Macao compatriots.

With the support of the central government, Macao's external relations, particularly with Portuguese-speaking countries and the European Union, have been further expanded, thus maintaining Macao's status as an international city, he added.

A grand flag-raising ceremony to mark the 5th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland is held in the Macao Special Administrative Region, south China, on Dec. 20, 2004.

Chinese President Hu Jintao attended the ceremony, where Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah and principal officials of the Macao SAR government will be sworn into office.

A celebration gathering marking the 5th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland and the inauguration ceremony of the second-term government of the Macao Special Administrative Region is held in Macao, south China, on Dec. 20, 2004.

A celebration gathering marking the 5th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland and the inauguration ceremony of the second-term government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) were held Monday morning.