The central government and Macao Special Administrative Region government signed the Trade in Goods Protocol of Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), finalizing 19 policy measures for mutually beneficial cooperation, during the first meeting of the Economic and Trade Cooperation Committee between the two on Dec 12 in Macao.

The newly signed protocol -- the final touch along with the CEPA's trade in service, investment, economic and technical cooperation -- marks the ahead-of-time completion of the CEPA upgrading from the 13th Five-Year Plan.

The establishment of the committee, along with the upgrading of CEPA, will become a new starting point for economic and trade cooperation between the mainland and Macao, said Fu Ziying, China international trade representative and vice-minister of Commerce of China, who signed the deal on Wednesday with Leong Vai Tac, secretary of economy and finance of Macao SAR.

In the future, through the committee mechanism, the mainland will expand its opening-up to Macao under the CEPA framework, further reduce and relax access conditions in the areas of investment and service trade, continuously improve the degree of trade and investment facilitation, and promote economic integration between the two places, said Fu.

At the same time, the mainland would actively support Macao to play its role in the economic and trade field, and it has set up five task forces to support the SAR's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, and promote the construction of the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area, he added.

In addition, the agreement also established a special chapter for facilitation measures in the Greater Bay Area by proposing a series of cooperative measures to further the integration of trade agreements. With innovative customs clearance models and multicooperative inspection modes, together with single-window interconnection construction, and electronic data on the exchange of goods, the Greater Bay area can expect a more efficient free flow of goods, said Leong.

The first meeting of the Economic and Trade Cooperation Committee is of great significance for the mainland and Macao as it serves as a symbol that the two places will jointly promote economic and trade exchanges and cooperation to a higher level, said Fu.