Macao helps lift Guizhou county out of poverty

Macao has been giving poverty alleviation assistance to Congjiang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, since 2018. During that time, Macao has offered help in the areas of education, healthcare, tourism, culture, industry, and vocational training.

So far, Macao has signed 27 poverty alleviation agreements with Congjiang involving 73 different projects, 85 donation activities and 116 million yuan ($18.18 million) in poverty alleviation funds.

In 2020, all 138,875 poverty-stricken people and 207 poor villages in Congjiang were lifted out of poverty.

Macao's Red Cross Society and companies invested 84 million yuan to help fund the construction of 13 kindergartens and primary schools, benefiting 3,330 students in six towns and townships.

Also, the charitable organization and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference provided 8.99 million yuan to help build 24 village clinics, which can provide medical services to 64,000 people per year.

The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region organized Macao's business associations to donate 6.64 million yuan to renovate 685 old houses in nine villages.

Congjiang's 22 companies have been invited to attend Macao's investment and commodity fairs for three years running, in an effort to help them expand their markets in Macao. The companies achieved 3.6 million yuan in revenues by selling rice, alcoholic beverages, spring water, eggs and handicrafts.

While Macao helped Congjiang make tourism promotion videos in Cantonese, Portuguese and English, the county offered discounts on tickets to its scenic areas for Macao residents, resulting in more than 5,000 visits to Congjiang.

Macao also provided more than 600 jobs and organized eight job fairs for Congjiang over the past three years, as well as offering vocational skills training.

In the future, Macao will continue to cooperate with the county in industrial development, training, tourism, education, healthcare, and rural revitalization.