Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR), left here on Tuesday to start his two-day annual duty visit to Beijing.

Ho during his tour will call on leaders of the central government and brief them on the latest social, economic and political developments in Macao.

Macao, a region with a population of merely 470,000, has long been one of the fast growing economies at the global stage.

(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2005)