News

The Cinematheque．Passion under the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) will host a talk entitled “How great is the power of film?”, conducted by renowned Hong Kong director, screenwriter and film critic Philip Yung, to be held on Saturday, 19 March, from 3 to 5pm. Online applications are now accepted. Admission is free. In his role as screenwriter, film critic and director, Yung integrates art with commerce. Being attentive to social phenomena, he insists on his own style of screenwriting. Among the films he wrote are Rigor Mortis, As the Light Goes Out and Father, and others. In 2009, he directed and wrote his first feature film Glamorous Youth, which participated in a number of international film festivals. With Port of Call that he directed and wrote, Yung earned nine nominations in the 52nd Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan last year. The work also won Best Film, Best Actor and Best Actress in the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards 2015, and a number of nominations for the 35th Hong Kong Film Awards. Junior filmmakers can learn a lot with Yung’s personal experience. In this talk, Yung will talk about “the power of film” based on his career and his journey from being a screenwriter to a director. There are sixty seats available. All interested parties are welcome to enrol through IC’s “Activity Registration System” (www.icm.gov.mo/eform/event) by 18 March (Friday) at 12pm. For enquiries regarding the talk or the Cinematheque, please contact Mr. Leong, staff member of IC, through tel. no. (853) 2892 4040 during office hours. For details, please visit the Cultural Affairs Bureau website (www.icm.gov.mo) or the Macao Cultural and Creative Industries Website (www.macaucci.com).
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The Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has received confirmation from the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman in Beijing that Macao SAR Passport holders can obtain visa-on-arrival in the Sultanate of Oman for a maximum stay of 30 days. At present, a total of 121 countries and territories have agreed to grant visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to Macao SAR passport holders, while 12 countries have agreed to grant the visa-free access or visa-on-arrival access to Macao SAR Travel Permit holders.
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In order to encourage the development of classical music in Macao, to increase the musical accomplishment and performance of young musicians and to offer them valuable performance and learning opportunities, the Cultural Affairs Bureau organizes the “34th Macao Young Musicians Competition”, dedicated to Chinese and Western instruments, between 25th of July and 7th of August, to be held in several venues in Macao. Applications will be open from 22nd to 29th of April. This edition of Macao Young Musicians Competition features 32 categories of solo Chinese and Western instruments and vocal solo, with elementary, intermediate and advanced levels in each category. Competition in teams includes five categories only, which are not divided into levels. A First, Second and Third prizes, Certificate of Merit and Certificate of Competence will be awarded in each category. The First Prize-winning individual in each category or competitors recommended by the jury will have the opportunity to participate in the “Competition for Special Awards”, competing for the First, Second and Third prizes in each level. The first prize-winning team in each category will have the opportunity to compete for the “Award for Best Group Performance”. The “Cultural Affairs Bureau Prize” will be awarded to the First Prize-winning individual among all advanced levels. The “Cultural Affairs Bureau Prize” will be granted through a scholarship, and the amount of this scholarship equals to the net amount of the winner’s first year tuition fee in a music-related course. The remaining prizes will be delivered to the winners in form of a cheque. Applicants for the solo Chinese and Western instruments categories must hold a valid Macao SAR Resident identity card and must have been born on or after 1995; while applicants for the vocal solo category must have been born on or after 1991. In order to facilitate the applicants, applications can be done either online or in person. Applicants who choose to apply online may register online first, from 10am on 22nd of April to 12am on 29th of April through the webpage of the Macao Young Musicians Competition (www.icm.gov.mo/cjmm). Supporting documents and an application fee of MOP80 per category must be submitted at the Cultural Affairs Bureau Building located at Tap Seac Square between 28th and 30th of April, from 10am to 7pm (open during lunch hour). Applicants may also choose to apply in person at the Cultural Affairs Bureau Building during the period and time indicated above, together with the completed application form, required documents and an application fee of MOP100 per category. For more information regarding the application, the competition’s regulations, the application forms and the list of compulsory pieces, please visit the Macao Young Musicians Competition’s website. Applicants may consult the compulsory pieces of the competition at the Macao Central Library, Sir Robert Ho Tung Library and Taipa Library from 1st of March during office hours. For enquiries, please contact IC through tel. 8399 6911 or 8399 6979, during office hours.
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The Government Spokesperson’s Office has received several media enquiries regarding a case under investigation by the Commission Against Corruption involving staff of the Public Prosecutions Office. In response to these enquiries, the Office states the following: The Government will not comment on the case as this is a pending legal matter. Any further updates on this matter are to be announced by the Commission Against Corruption.
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Aiming to implement the Framework Agreement on Co-operation between Guangdong and Macao, broaden the scope of economic and trade co-operation between Macao and Guangzhou, and jointly promote the development of the convention and exhibition industry on both sides, the Macao-Guangzhou Products Fair has been organised by IPIM since 2012, in co-operation with the Guangzhou Municipal Commission of Commerce. To be in line with the SAR Government’s policy objective of “offering” service and assisting SMEs to explore overseas market, IPIM organises local business enterprises to participate and exhibit their products in the exhibition in Guangzhou. Furthermore, IPIM’s staff also visited participating enterprises after the event, to provide consultation service and collected their opinions. The 2016 Macao-Guangzhou Products Fair was well-received by the exhibitors, who stated that their participation in the Fair had been productive. Some companies started product agent negotiations, while other participants confirmed that sales volume was satisfactory and that such experience would help them develop the Mainland market. 2016 Macao-Guangzhou Products Fair, jointly organised by IPIM and the Guangzhou Municipal Commission of Commerce, was held from 15 to 17 January in Guangzhou. The event attracted over 150,000 visitors, giving the venue a warm atmosphere. QQ Mei Sek Sai Kai Limited, renowned for the production of “belacan” in its own factory, began to participate in the activities organised by IPIM on the recommendation of its business colleagues and managed to get good results. It is the sixth consecutive years that the company participated in the Fair. According to the Director and General Manager of the said company, Mr. Lou Kao Chon, participation in the Fair helped to promote their products and at the same time, find new customers in Guangzhou and neighbouring regions. They have already identified co-operation partners in Guangzhou, Jiangmen and Foshan. At the same time, he considers that participation in the Fair would allow him to learn more about the demand, preference and market price acceptance of the local market and could also serve as a reference for business development. In addition to the factory in Macao, QQ Mei Sek Sai Kai Limited also maintains a factory in Ruili, Yunnan Province, for distribution and sales of their products in major Mainland cities. Macao´s food souvenirs were very popular in the Fair, Mr. Leong Ip Fai, Director and General Manager of Wing Fai Food Trading Company Limited said that he was initially a pastry chef of food souvenirs. In 1989, as he became confident in the mastery of his professional skills, he opened a factory in Mainland China together with some good friends, and introduced Macao´s typical souvenir foods to the Mainland market. He said that, at present, souvenir foods produced by Wing Fai Food Trading Company Limited are available in all major supermarkets in China and Macao, such as Walmart, RT-Mart, Vanguard, Royal, San Miu, as well as all international airports on the Mainland. He began to participate in the exhibitions organised by IPIM about four years ago and he said that such activities served as a platform to showcase branded and fine Macao products and had been very useful in helping him develop his business. In addition, such activities also played a very active role in attracting buyers and developing the Mainland market. He also mentioned that over the four consecutive years that his company participated in the event, they managed to sell an average of several thousand boxes of souvenir foods every day at the venue, and the reaction has been very positive. Mr. Leong hopes that IPIM would continue to organise more events of a similar nature, to help Macao´s SMEs explore the domestic market in Mainland China. Apart from organising companies to exhibit their products at the Fair, IPIM also organises business delegations to visit the Fair. The Director and General Manager of Depend Technology Computer Ltd., Mr. Iun Sio Hong, who has participated consecutively for three years, said that the activities organised by IPIM are very useful to the business sector, as it would provide them the opportunities for networking with local and Mainland counterparts and business talents as well as knowing more about different products which are beneficial to their business development. He added that this year, during the Fair, he met a handbag manufacturer with co-operation potential and therefore he immediately purchased some samples to bring back to Macao and is now discussing issue related to agent agreement with the manufacturer.
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Based on a report received last year, the CCAC has commenced a criminal investigation into a case involving former leadership staff of the Public Prosecutions Office (MP). Coercive judicial measures have been adopted against the individuals suspected of committing crimes following an order of the relevant judicial body. It was discovered in the investigation that the former leadership staff of the MP colluded with some managers of private companies in order to have a majority of the contracts of projects and services of the MP adjudicated to those companies. Between 2004 and 2014, the companies got the contracts involving more than MOP167 million by illicit means and the suspects received advantages amounting to no less than MOP44 million. The former leadership staff of the MP and the companies managers have allegedly committed offences of “fraud”, “unlawful economic advantage”, “power abuse” and “document forgery” under the Penal Code. Upon approval of the relevant judicial body, coercive measures including custody, restriction from departure and suspension from public duties have been adopted against the suspects based on the criminal facts. Since the case is still undergoing investigation, the CCAC will make further announcements if there is any update on the case. The CCAC pledges that it will continue to make all-out efforts to combat various crimes of corruption and devote to the development of a fair and graft-free society.
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Meeting on 25 and 26 February, the “Macao Tourism Development Master Plan” International Conference has lined up experts from worldwide, the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao presented relevant topics. Together with the representatives from Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), the government department concerned as well as professional organizations, the experts exchanged ideas and participated in group discussions on assigned topics. Through the two-day agenda, a broad range of perspectives were collected for optimization of the “Macao Tourism Development Master Plan”. MGTO held the “Macao Tourism Industry Development Master Plan” International Conference at Tourism Activities Centre. On 25 February, the experts presented four different topics around the ‘“Macao Tourism Development Master Plan” including “Products and Branding”, “Innovative Technology”, “Industry Cooperation” and “HR and Service Quality”. The team of experts also joined group discussions with representatives of MGTO, the entities concerned and professional organizations to discuss the related topics and contemplate a vision for the future of Macao’s tourism industry. Through interchanges in the Conference, MGTO collected a broad range of opinions on the approaches to further optimize the draft of the Master Plan for the next stage of public consultation. On 26 February, the experts and MGTO representatives participated in group discussions and drew conclusions on the proposed action plans and assessment criteria in the stage-one proposal for the Master Plan. Strategy implementation and goal setting for the Master Plan was also discussed during the Conference. Strengths and weaknesses of proposed approach to the topics were discussed with opinions contributed, which will serve as reference during formulation of the Master Plan. The opinions collected will help MGTO to optimize the content of the Master Plan. There were a total of 100 conference attendees including MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Deputy Directors Cecilia Tse and Cheng Wai Tong, department heads and personnel as well as representatives of over 20 related government departments and professional organizations. The line-up of experts include Bill Calderwood and Tom Farney, with their expertise in tourism development and innovative technology for destination management respectively, Professor Davis Fong, Director of Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming as well as Associate Professor of Hospitality and Gaming Management Program at University of Macau, Kevin B. Murphy, Chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Executive Board, Dr. Jason Ni, Assistant Professor of Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at City University of Hong Kong, Eric Rankin, specialized in innovative technology for tourism, Dain Simpson, with expertise in forecasting trends and tourism product analysis, Professor Lin Jiang, Head of Public Finance and Taxation Department of Lingnan College at Sun Yat-Sen University, and Chris Yoshii, an expert of destination resort development and district planning. In early 2015, MGTO invited public tenders for the "Macao Tourism Industry Development Master Plan Service Provision”, so to propose an inclusive development plan for Macao tourism industry in the short, medium and long term in order to map out a comprehensive “Macao Tourism Development Master Plan”. By doing the related work, the Office aims to foster sustainable development of Macao tourism industry in line with the SAR Government’s endeavor to build Macao into a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, is scheduled to attend the opening of the Fourth Session of the Twelfth National People's Congress (NPC) on 5 March in Beijing. During his visit to the capital from 3-6 March, Mr Chui will meet with leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the General Administration of Customs. The Chief Executive will also meet with leaders of the Guangdong Government to discuss further cooperation opportunities between Guangdong and Macao. The Chief-of-Office of the Chief Executive’s Office, Ms O Lam; the Director of the Government Information Bureau, Mr Chan Chi Ping; the Director of the Protocol, Public Relations and External Affairs Office, Mr Fung Sio Weng will take part in this visit. During Mr Chui’s absence, the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Chan Hoi Fan, will be Acting Chief Executive.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 239 MICE events were held in the fourth quarter of 2015, up by 6 year-on-year; number of meetings and conferences increased by 13 while that of exhibitions decreased by 7; total number of participants and attendees dropped by 23.1% to 811,964. For the whole year of 2015, MICE events increased by 116 year-on-year to 909; number of exhibitions decreased by 9, causing total number of participants and attendees (2,481,650) to drop by 4.0% year-on-year. The average duration of MICE events was 2.2 days in 2015, and total floor area used for the events was 752,059 m2. There were 216 meetings and conferences held in the fourth quarter of 2015, up by 6.4% year-on-year; number of participants decreased by 3.9% to 26,146. The average duration of the meetings and conferences was 1.9 days, and floor area used totalled 98,525 m2. Concurrently, 23 exhibitions were held, down by 23.3% year-on-year; number of attendees decreased by 23.6% to 785,818. The average duration of the exhibitions was 3.4 days, and floor area used totalled 184,658 m2. In accordance with information collected from organizers of 23 exhibitions in the fourth quarter of 2015, receipts of these exhibitions amounted to MOP 115 million, with financial support from government or other organizations accounting for 76.3%. Expenditure of the exhibitions totalled MOP 154 million, of which production, construction & decoration took up 22.3%, and accommodation, food & beverages shared 13.5%. Receipts of the 22 exhibitions organized by non-government organizations amounted to MOP 113 million (98.1% of total), of which 77.8% came from financial support from government or other organizations. Expenditure totalled MOP 121 million (78.3% of total), which was mainly incurred on production, construction & decoration (21.9%). The 23 exhibitions together attracted 2,010 exhibitors and 56,944 professional visitors, with those attending exhibitions organized by non-government organizations accounting for 61.5% and 89.3% respectively. Information from 592 interviewed exhibitors in the fourth quarter indicated that 98.8% of their receipts came from sales of products, while rental paid for exhibition booth and booth decoration accounted for 45.2% and 34.3% respectively of their expenditure. Regarding comments about the MICE venue and services, over 75% of the interviewed exhibitors were satisfied with the professionalism, language skills and work efficiency & attitude of the venue staff, up by 2.0, 2.7 and 4.8 percentage points from the respective percentages in the third quarter. Among the exhibitors that had used services rendered by local companies, the proportion of those who were satisfied with their services (66.0%) and arrangements (64.5%) dropped by 5.6 and 8.1 percentage points respectively quarter-to-quarter. As regards planning and organization of the exhibition, 43.4% of the exhibitors were satisfied with the promotion of the exhibition, down by 5.2 percentage points, while 17.2% considered that improvement was needed. Moreover, 11.8% of the exhibitors commented that the facilities of the venue should be improved. For the whole year of 2015, a total of 909 MICE events were held. Meetings and conferences totalled 831, up by 125 year-on-year; however, total number of participants decreased by 10.0% to 88,189 owing to a decline in number of conference participants. Analysed by size, meetings and conferences having 200 participants or more (109) rose by 9, while number of participants (51,303) dropped by 23.0%. The average duration of the meetings and conferences was 2.1 days, down by 0.2 day, and total floor area used decreased by 6.5% to 356,549 m2. Meanwhile, exhibitions decreased by 9 year-on-year to 78 (74 were organized by non-government organizations), and number of attendees dropped by 3.8% to 2,393,461. There were 40 exhibitions with a floor area of 3,500 m2 or more, and the space occupied shared 81.1% of the total (395,510 m2). The average duration of the exhibitions was 3.3 days, same as in 2014. In 2015, there were 197 meetings and conferences held in the third quarter, while more than 200 meetings and conferences were held in each of the remaining quarters. November had the highest number of meetings and conferences, at 98. As regards exhibitions, the second half year was the peak season for exhibitions, with 16 in July and 10 in November. According to information collected from organizers of 77 exhibitions in 2015, receipts of the exhibitions amounted to MOP 232 million, with MOP 127 million (54.5%) coming from financial support from government or other organizations. Expenditure of the exhibitions totalled MOP 305 million, of which production, construction & decoration accounted for 23.1%, and publicity & public relations shared 18.9%. Receipts of the 73 exhibitions organized by non-government organizations amounted to MOP 228 million, of which financial support from government or other organizations shared 55.5%. Expenditure totalled MOP 234 million, mainly incurred on production, construction & decoration (23.1%) and publicity & public relations (18.6%). The 77 exhibitions attracted a total of 5,607 exhibitors, of which 38.6% came from Macao and 23.6% from Hong Kong. Professional visitors totalled 144,866, with 52.3% coming from Macao. Exhibitors and professional visitors attending exhibitions organized by non-government organizations accounted for 69.8% and 91.9% of the respective total. Moreover, information from 2,093 interviewed exhibitors in 2015 indicated that sales of products accounted for 97.0% of the receipts, while rental paid for exhibition booth shared 58.2% of the expenditure.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for November 2015-January 2016 held stable at 1.9% as in the previous period (October-December 2015); the underemployment rate was 0.4%, down by 0.1 percentage point. Total labour force was 397,900 and the labour force participation rate stood at 72.6%. Total employment decreased by 2,800 from October-December 2015, at 390,300. Analysed by industry, employment in Construction registered decrease, while that in Restaurants & Similar Activities saw increase. Number of the unemployed was 7,700, up by 200 from October-December 2015; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 9.9% of the total unemployed, down by 0.9 percentage points. In comparison with November 2014-January 2015, the labour force participation rate decreased by 1.7 percentage points; the unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points, while the underemployment rate stayed unchanged.
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