Organised by Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), the 17th Macao International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF), came to a close today (21st Oct) after four days which saw thousands of trade visitors, residents and tourists come through the doors here for visit, business negotiations, sourcing and purchasing. Many pavilions were well received with tremendous number of visitors and customers. The four-day MIF received a total of 103,899 visits, representing an increase of 9.23%, over last year. Meanwhile, a total of 1,847 sessions of business matching were conducted, resulting in the signing of 88 protocols. A total of 47 forums, conferences, seminars & presentations were held with 6,800 attendees. The 17th MIF spanned an exhibition area of over 30,000 sqm with the showcase of over 1,800 exhibition booths represented by more than 700 exhibitors, and received trade delegations from over 50 countries and regions. In addition to first time exhibiting countries such as Madagascar, Cyprus and Jordan, the Pavilion of Portugal had its biggest ever exhibition area, reaching 500 sqm. Meanwhile, with the debut participation of Shenzhen Cultural Industrial Fair and the introduction of the "Cultural and Artistic Performance Pavilion", it not only built the Fair into a platform for the Chinese cultural and creative industries to "go out" for new markets, it also provided an excellent stage for some of the world's finest performances and demonstrations such as the ones presented at Beijing Pavilion and Hunan Pavilion, the lifelike mechanical models of marine animals of the Zhuhai Chimelong International Ocean Resort, the singing and dancing shows of the China's Ethnic Groups Pavilion, the onsite demonstrations by many masters of Chinese traditional arts and crafts, and the glamorous fashion shows of "Macao Brand Show", to name just a few. In order to further raise the standards of technology and equipment of the convention and exhibition industry of Macao, deepen regional cooperation of the convention and exhibition industries in the Pearl River Delta, and strengthen the exchange of the technological results among the local and overseas industry players, the MIF this year upgraded the "Convention and Exhibition Pavilion" by having it jointly organised by industry players from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, to showcase their state-of-the-art facilities and equipment for convention and exhibition. Besides, the 17th MIF specially set up a "Packaging Design Pavilion" to give richer contents to the theme of "culture and creation". In addition to the availability of renowned packaging design experts onsite to provide professional advisory service, there were also several seminars on related topics, so as to promote the exchange of technological results among local and overseas industry players and improve the standards of packaging design of Macao's branded commodities and food specialties enterprises. With regard to SMEs, a full spectrum of services such as a brand new 3D website of "Macao Ideas" launched during the "SME International Business Days", SME Service Corner, orientation to "branding" and "franchising" and the upcoming "Assistance Plan for SMEs to Explore New Business" were lined up to help SMEs accomplish operational upgrade and transformation. "Investment" constitutes a major theme of the MIF. Out of the 47 forums, conferences, business networking activities held during the MIF this year, including the "International Trade and Investment Forum 2012" and "The 9th World Summit of Chinese Entrepreneurs", the total number of attendees exceeded 6,800. All of these activities served to provide a platform for direct exchange and meeting among exhibitors and buyers of various industries for creating new business opportunities. Besides, with a view to fully utilizing Macao's advantage as a platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, and helping local and Mainland SMEs explore the markets of Portuguese-speaking countries, the MIF this year had the biggest ever Pavilion of Portugal which occupied an exhibition area of nearly 500 sqm. Meanwhile, several related activities and seminars were held, including "EU Wine & Food Products Promotion and Networking Cocktail Reception", "Portuguese-Speaking Countries, Fujian and Macao Economic Exchange Networking Cocktail Reception", "Seminar on EU-Macao Business Opportunities Unlocking Cultural and Creative Industries' Potential – In Culture, Business, Innovation" and "Brazil's Investment Environment & Business Opportunities provided by 2014 FIFA World Cup & 2016 Rio Olympics Games", among others. The four-day Fair attracted a total of 103,899 visits, an increase of 9.23% over last year. This year, the "One-trip, Multi-stop" service and "Convention and Exhibition Through Train" plan diverted trade visitors to visit the Canton Fair and to go to Hengqin of Zhuhai and Nansha of Guangzhou for field inspection, with an aim of pooling conventions and sharing resources, and hence optimizing the results and business opportunities for the participating trade visitors. Meanwhile, a total of 1,847 sessions of business matching were conducted, (up 22.9% over last year) which included 351 sessions for hotels, 254 sessions for supermarkets, 289 sessions for others and 953 sessions of onsite project negotiations, which were related to hotels, tourism, food products and wines wholesaling, supermarket retailing, food & beverage, and retailing, etc. The buyers mainly came from Macao, Hong Kong, USA and Switzerland, etc. Among them, the percentage of participation in business matching by Portuguese-speaking countries recorded an increase, in that a total of 350 sessions were arranged for them. This year, the products exhibited by Portuguese-speaking countries included wine products and food. And of these products, Portuguese red wines were the popular among visitors. Over the last four days, 88 projects had their protocols signed during the 17th MIF (an increase of 8.64% over last year), which included 24 contracts, 42 agreements, 10 letters of intent and 12 memoranda (of which 10 projects signed were related to Portuguese-speaking countries, including Portugal, Angola and East Timor, in respect of joint exploration of the Greater China market, setting up a chain store for Portuguese agricultural food products, cooperation in the processing of coffee from East Timor, cooperation for vineyard, and distributorship of Portuguese food products, chocolates and Casa Angola products, as well as friendly cooperation among government entities and trade associations, etc.). The protocols signed were mainly related to tourism, culture and creation, convention and exhibition, information technology, education, manufacturing, real estate, food & beverage, trade and commerce, environmental protection, products distributorship, agricultural cooperation, shops of brand name products, food processing and friendly cooperation among government entities and trade associations, etc. The signing entities mainly came from countries and regions including Macao (45.39%, of which 80% were SMEs), Mainland China (38.16%), Hong Kong (5.26%), and Portuguese-speaking countries (3.95%) (of which Portugal (1.97%), in which the Associação de Jovens Empresários Portugal-China signed 2 agreements with enterprises of Macao, Angola (1.32%), East Timor (0.66%), Taiwan (1.32%), Malaysia (3.29%), Korea (0.66%), Philippines (1.32%), USA (0.66%), etc. Today was the final day of the 17th MIF. Many trade visitors, residents and tourists took the opportunity to visit the Fair for seeking business opportunities, sourcing and purchasing, as well as for watching the exquisite cultural and creative exhibits, demonstrations and performances. Many pavilions were well received by tremendous number of visitors and customers. The 18th Macao International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF) will be held from 17th to 20th October 2013. Remarks: This is a preliminary press release. The above data were updated until 13:00 of 21st October. The data and information will be subject to further update. Please check back again for more updated news released later by the Government Information Bureau.
