President Yang Cheng on the Third Five-Year Plan: Macao Should Position Itself as a Strategic Pivot and a "Shock Absorber" for the Nation's Opening-Up

Following the release of the Third Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Macao Special Administrative Region (2026–2030), MFTEDA President Yang Cheng, who is also Chairman of the Macao Digital Innovation Association, gave an interview to Hou Kong Daily in which he analysed the plan's highlights. He noted that the plan answers the question of our times: "How can a small city find a big place in the national strategy?"

Yang Cheng believes Macao should position itself as a strategic pivot in the nation's overall opening-up and serve as a "shock absorber" for enterprises going global, turning a daring leap into a well-prepared soft landing. He made recommendations along three stages — advance buffering, in-process support and subsequent rebound: at the government level, set up a dedicated task force and a one-stop window for enterprises going global, integrating Portuguese-language legal, accounting, certification and arbitration services into a standardised "going-global service package"; at the industry level, jointly build a pool of certified service providers and a case knowledge base, so that the experience of pioneers becomes the roadbed for those who follow; and at the academic level, turn crisis-management cases into research and teaching resources.

Yang Cheng stressed that Macao should focus on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and asset-light sectors, lowering the barriers to going global to a minimum through precisely matched platforms and dedicated support programmes, so that inclusive dividends reach the broadest possible range of businesses; at the same time, drawing on the combined advantages of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, Macao should prudently explore compliant overseas digital-asset businesses, filling in a missing piece of the nation's opening-up landscape.

"Bring what Macao does best to serve what the nation needs," Yang Cheng said, adding that MFTEDA will continue to conduct research and offer recommendations on the implementation of the Third Five-Year Plan, helping Macao play its unique role in the nation's high-standard opening-up.