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With the support of the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) and the Gongbei Customs District have further strengthened their cooperation in inspection and quarantine of food, animal and plant products. On 9 January, Chao Wai Ieng, Chairman of Administration Committee on Municipal Affairs of IAM, and Zhan Shaotong, Director General of the Gongbei Customs District, signed the “Memorandum of cooperation in launching the inspection and quarantine supervision of imported foreign fruits" in the Guangdong-Macao Cooperation Joint Conference held in Guangzhou.
 
IAM sincerely thanked the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China and the Gongbei Customs District for their continuous support to Macao's food safety and import inspection work. Both parties will continue to stay committed to the basis of “one country" and leverage the benefits of “two systems", strengthen technical cooperation and system innovation, implement various cooperative supervision models and further facilitate cross-border trade between Guangdong and Macao, so as to increase the degree of market integration in the Greater Bay Area.
 
After the memorandum of cooperation was signed, a liaison and discussion mechanism will be established to facilitate “re-export" of the Mainland-imported foreign fruits to Macao. Through meetings and discussions, dynamic assessment and other methods, the resources of both parties for supervision will be consolidated and the cooperation on supervision of product packaging, transportation, documents and certificates, etc. will be strengthened to jointly support the supply of the Mainland-imported foreign fruits which passed inspections and quarantine to Macao. The foreign fruits which satisfied the import requirements of the Mainland can be supplied to Macao directly through the packaging factories registered in the Mainland and the relevant records can be provided to ensure that the products are traceable.
 
In recent years, the demand of fruits from the Mainland and other countries on the Macao market have continued to expand. This cooperation has achieved a breakthrough in the established practice that foreign fruits originally imported to the Mainland cannot be exported to Macao. At the same time, the recognition of the results of inspections and quarantine of the Mainland also further shows the facilitation of the connectivity of the market regulations in both regions and the system innovations for alignment of mechanisms by staying committed to the basis of “one country" and leveraging the benefits of “two systems". It is beneficial to further diversifying the “fruit basket" of Macao, stabling the market prices, safeguarding the quality and safety of the agricultural products in both regions and improving the welfare of the public.
 
With the support and guidance of the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, IAM and the Gongbei Customs District will continue to deepen cooperation and communication and expand efforts in change and innovation, so as to jointly tackle the challenges and risks brought about by agricultural food products and increase the degree of market integration in the Greater Bay Area.