Chinese President Hu Jintao had a meeting with Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), at the Zhongnanhai compound Tuesday in Beijing.

After listening to a report from Ho, the president praised the efforts made by Ho and the SAR government.

In 2005, Macao's economy has continued to grow, the social situation has remained stable and harmonious, while the third election of the Legislative Council was smoothly organized. Meanwhile, Macao succeeded in making its old urban area a World Heritage site and hosted the East Asian Games, Hu said.

Hu attributed these achievements to the joint efforts of the SAR government and all circles in Macao. The central government will continue to provide full support to the chief executive and the SAR government to fulfill their work in accordance with law, he stressed.

Hu said that Macao is at a new historic starting-point; he hoped that the SAR government would lead people all walks of life in Macao in taking opportunities, being enterprising and making positive efforts to deal with new situations and problems that may occur in the development of the SAR.

Present on the occasion were Vice-President Zeng Qinghong, Wang Gang, Tang Jiaxuan and Liao Hui.

Source: Xinhua