The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) has provided a golden opportunity for Macao’s sustainable development but also a way for solving problems and exploring new development models, said a political advisor on Saturday.

Macao legislative councilor Chui Sai-cheong said the 13th Five-Year Plan supports Macao to build itself as a world center for tourism and leisure as well as a service platform for Chinese and Portuguese-speaking countries’ business cooperation.

“Building Macao towards a world center for tourism and leisure has been listed as the major task by the government for years,” said Chui. “Every year, around 30 million tourists visit Macao and about two-thirds of them are from mainland.”

To promote the tourism cooperation of Macao and the mainland, Chui suggested giving multiple entry permits to mainland tourists travelling between Macao and Hengqin, a coastal island tucked into the southern corner of Zhuhai city in Guangdong province.

Chui also suggested allowing Macao’s buses to Hengqin for picking up or sending off tourists.

Besides tourism, Chui said Macao could play a better role on deepening business cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, and the Belt and Road Initiative.