Sio Chi-wai, a Macao deputy to the National People's Congress, the nation's top legislature. (LIU YIFAN / CHINA DAILY)

The port functions of Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, Zhuhai, could be optimized further to play a bigger role in promoting Macao’s integration with the mainland and facilitating the development of the special administrative region’s cross-border e-commerce sector, said Sio Chi-wai, a Macao deputy to the National People’s Congress, the nation’s top legislature.

In his motions submitted to the legislature this year, one of Sio’s major areas of focus is on how to better leverage Hengqin’s unique role in promoting the diversification of the Macao economy, strengthening Macao businesses and improving local people’s lives.

The national legislator said that Hengqin’s advantages, in terms of logistics, have not been given full play, as there are no related policies and customs inspection sites targeting cross-border e-commerce there

“At the current time, Hengqin Port does not have the functionality to import special categories of goods such as fruits, fresh flowers, meat, seafood, or for transporting inbound and outbound mail and express items. The lack of supporting measures is not conducive to Macao-Hengqin integration and the creation of a quality business environment,” Sio told China Daily in an interview.

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He proposed that a pilot program be carried out to expand port functions at Hengqin, to allow for the convenient entry of meat, seafood, express packages and other daily commodities from Macao to the special economic zone.

“This will effectively save the extra logistics costs of customs clearance of goods via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge or Gongbei Port, significantly improve the efficiency of customs clearance and enhance the usage rate of Hengqin’s import function,” he said.

The Hengqin cooperation zone officially started a “closed-loop” operation in March. Under the new arrangement, goods that meet certain conditions are exempted from taxes when entering the cooperation zone from Macao, while other goods are bonded. The new measure is expected to expedite the flow of logistics, people, funds and information between Hengqin and Macao.

Sio, who is also president of Macau Development Strategy Research Center, also highlighted the importance of developing cross-border e-commerce as a way of helping local businesses gain a wider market.

“Macao Special Administrative Region government has been actively promoting the development of cross-border e-commerce in recent years to support enterprises to expand business through online platforms. However, the current situation of the sector is not that good,” he said.

The national legislator said that Hengqin’s advantages, in terms of logistics, have not been given full play, as there are no related policies and customs inspection sites targeting cross-border e-commerce there.

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A comprehensive customs inspection site for cross-border e-commerce, fresh and frozen products as well as express items should be set up in the cooperation zone and customs’ inspection measures on cross-border e-commerce goods should be clarified, he said, adding that the move could play an active role in driving aviation transport and cross-border e-commerce in Macao, and provide more convenience for Macao enterprises in customs clearance.