MACAO, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR), left here Sunday on his one-week tour to Belgium and Portugal.

    Ho, during his stay in Brussels, is scheduled to pay courtesy calls on Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, Guy Verhofstadt, prime minister of Belgium, as well as other EU and Belgian officials.

    On June 21, Ho is slated to leave Brussels for Lisbon, where he is to pay courtesy calls on the Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva, Jaime Gamathe, president of the nation's assembly, and Prime Minister Jose Socrates.

    A press release issued by the MSAR Information Bureau said Ho's visit is aimed at strengthening Macao's "relationship and partnership" with the European Union, Belgium and Portugal.

    Ho visited Portugal in 2000 and Belgium in 2001. Enditem