MACAO, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Government departments and universities of south China's Macao Special Administrative Region and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Friday signed seven cooperation deals covering economy, trade, culture, tourism, environmental protection, and traditional Chinese medicine.

Addressing the event, Macao's Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said that Macao actively cooperates with Guangxi in comprehensively integrating into the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, supporting Guangxi in becoming an important strategic hinterland of the Greater Bay Area connecting Hong Kong, Macao, and ASEAN countries in terms of industrial, innovation, supply, and financial chains.

Liu Ning, secretary of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China, noted Guangxi's role in providing labor, building materials, agricultural products, electricity, and other resource elements of the Greater Bay Area.

He Ningying, chair of the Guangxi Youth Friendship Association of Macao, said that Guangxi plays an important role in regional cooperation and has also injected new impetus and vitality into the development of the regional economy.