A supply chain project is driving institutional innovation: How Nansha and Macau can accelerate the alignment of regulations

An entirely automated terminal at Phase IV of the Nansha Port Area of Guangzhou Port. Photo by Liu Wei, correspondent

Recently, the “Fifteenth Five-Year Plan” (XV) special seminar for Macao’s Legislative Assembly planning was held in Macao. At the meeting, a supply-chain project already settled in Nansha became the focus of discussions between the two sides, reflecting that cooperation between the two places is entering a new stage—moving from project implementation to platform development and institutional alignment.

To build a demonstration zone for cross-border capital flows and explore a cooperation model of “Nansha’s digital capabilities + Macao’s international gateway,” the project explores rule alignment from three dimensions: the market, talent, and law. It deepens sea-and-air coordination between the two places and turns the supply-chain project into a model showcase for the two sides in terms of China–Portugal (and related) economic and trade cooperation, port logistics coordination, and industrial integration.

One project, two advantages

In December 2024, the high-quality food supply chain center for Portuguese-speaking countries under the Guangdong–Macao program settled in Nansha, Guangzhou. This professional park integrates international food trading, logistics supply-chain services, and light processing near the port. Co-invested by Macao and entrepreneurs from Guangdong, it has already been incorporated into Guangzhou’s “Fifteenth Five-Year Plan” (XV) planning.

Macao Legislative Assembly member and chairman of the Guangzhou Nansha Guangdong–Macao Development Promotion Association, He Jinglin, introduced that this project extends the functions of the Nansha port from merely loading and unloading at the dock to a comprehensive supply-chain center that integrates clearance, trading, processing, distribution, bonded transfer, and transshipment.

He described it as “an important carrier jointly serving the two places’ dual circulation of domestic and international markets,” and explained the project’s unique value: “We hope that Macao can leverage its advantages in the China–Portugal platform and international liaison, while Nansha can leverage its advantages in port space and industrial capacity, so that together we can channel resources from Portuguese-speaking countries into the Greater Bay Area, connecting the region’s industrial chains to international markets.” These words spelled out the answer to “why it is a supply chain”—Macao has a free port system and the functions of a China–Portugal platform, but is constrained by land and industrial support; it lacks sufficient on-the-ground capacity in areas such as port logistics, bonded warehousing cold chains, and near-port processing. Meanwhile, Nansha has precisely these advantages. South China’s largest comprehensive hub port, 180 foreign trade shipping routes, an annual throughput of 22 million TEUs, and the value of customs clearance for ports exceeding 1 trillion RMB—these figures constitute Nansha’s industrial foundation.

Macao Legislative Assembly member and chairman of the Macao Young Entrepreneurs Association, Li Juren, described the cooperation prospects even more concretely: making the project a key focus for the two places’ planning alignment, and prioritizing the formation of demonstration effects in areas such as high-quality food trading, cold-chain logistics, bonded processing, and exhibition and trading. He even outlined a clear division-of-work chain—“policy in Macao, services in Hengqin, delivery and settlement in Nansha, and the market in the Greater Bay Area.”

From project to institutional extension

What a project brings is not only an increase in trade volumes, but also the imperative to pursue deeper institutional exploration.

How to connect cross-border capital flows? Macao Legislative Assembly member and chair of the Macao Bankers Association, Ye Zhaojia, noted that Nansha’s “Financial 30 Measures” and Hengqin’s “Financial 30 Measures” each have their own focus and can absolutely form a synergy effect. He suggested that the two places jointly roll out financial solutions for countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative and for the integrated development of the Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao, leveraging the convenience of each side’s foreign-exchange management facilitation policies in their free trade zones to build a demonstration zone for cross-border capital flows.

How can trade in data and technology services be expanded? Macao Legislative Assembly member, and chairman of the Guangdong–Macao Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Shi Jialun proposed that, relying on Macao’s platform advantages, Nansha can promote digital trade, smart services, and technology solutions toward the Portuguese-speaking and Spanish-speaking markets, forming a cooperation model of “Nansha’s digital capabilities + Macao’s international gateway.”

How can the rules be aligned? Macao Legislative Assembly member and chairman of the Macao Lawyers Association, Qiu Tingbiao, provided recommendations from three dimensions: in terms of market access, promote the easing of pilot programs for market access to facilitate Macao enterprises and professionals to practice in Nansha; in terms of talent rules, promote mutual recognition of qualifications and education, and simplify cross-border employment residence and tax procedures; in terms of law, introduce a China–Macao commercial arbitration and mediation system to provide an efficient and low-cost solution pathway for cross-border trade disputes. He also specifically proposed that a normalized, high-level joint meeting mechanism should be established.

The deepening of the supply-chain project is echoing the construction of the Pearl River West Coast international air transport hub port that Macao is advancing. Macao Legislative Assembly member, and chairman of the Macao Development Strategy Research Center, Gao Ansheng, suggested that, leveraging the hub port currently under construction, the sea-and-air coordination between Nansha and Macao should be further deepened. Cargo imported through Macao’s airport can be processed via Hengqin and then transported to Nansha port, enabling efficient docking between air and sea.

Liu Ben, chairman of the Macao Economic Society and deputy chairman of the Macao Development Strategy Research Center, said that the next step should focus on making the supply-chain project real and strengthening it, turning it into a demonstration showcase for the two places in China–Portugal (and related) economic and trade cooperation, port logistics coordination, and industrial integration, and combining it with the construction of the Pearl River West Coast international air transport hub port.

Produced by the Southern Metropolis (Nandu) Guangzhou News Department

Reporting and writing: Nandu reporter Mo Zhihua; correspondent from the Office of Nansha’s Hong Kong–Macao Affairs in the Development Zone