News

For the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June, Consumer Council collects prices of fresh pork and vegetables from wet markets and supermarkets for consumers’ reference. The mentioned data collected during 22 to 28 June are used for comparing the selling prices of the same products from Zhuhai and Hong Kong. The relevant data has been uploaded to the Council’s website for consumers’ reference. The specific price surveys on fresh pork and vegetables are now available on the Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo), iPhone & Android ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ app, and the Council’s WeChat Account page. The relevant surveys include selling prices of local fresh pork and vegetables, and comparison on the respective selling prices rom Zhuhai, HK, and Macao. For enquiry, please call 8988 9315.
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Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) holds its three-day Annual Marketing Meeting 2016 starting today (27th June). In line with that, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Dr. Alexis Tam, conducted a work meeting this afternoon for overall planning of marketing strategies in the future and listen to the reports of MGTO’s representatives in different markets about their work projects and promotional strategies. During the meeting, Secretary Tam recognized the great efforts made by the market representatives in promoting travel to Macao over last year, and encouraged them to carry on with their endeavor to attract quality tourists and to promote quality tourism rather than pursuing growths in visitor numbers. With regional cooperation being one of the major development strategies embraced by the SAR Government, he hopes that Macao can develop more multi-destination tour routes with different Mainland provinces and cities to attract more international visitors to the region for its tourism appeal. He added that, the SAR Government has combined the elements of tourism, culture and sports to unleash a significant synergistic effect by staging three signature events all in last December, namely Macau International Marathon, Parade through Macao, Latin City and the first edition of Macao Light Festival. This year, the SAR Government has developed new projects including “Anim’Arte Nam Van”, “International Film Festival & Awards‧Macao”, “Wushu Masters Challenge” and the revitalization project of Taipa Houses-Museum, these newly-developed tourism products will certainly become major highlights promoted by the representatives. MGTO is holding its Annual Marketing Meeting (AMM) 2016 in Macao from 27th to 29th June. Over 50 participants including MGTO’s market representatives and PR consultant as well as personnel of the Macao Special Administrative Region’s delegations have come from different places around the world to engage in the three-day intensive meeting in Macao. Secretary Tam hosted a work meeting on the first day for overall planning of marketing strategies in the future and to listen to market representatives’ presentations of their work projects and promotional strategies; during the AMM, MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes updated the representatives on Macao’s latest tourism situation and presented the major local events lined up in the latter half of 2016 as well as MGTO’s key projects including the Macao Tourism Industry Development Master Plan. Through PowerPoint presentations, the market representatives evaluated their work performance over the past year and reported their current projects and progress of task preparation for the next half of 2016. They also discussed their marketing plans to carry out in 2017. Coming up, MGTO officials and market representatives will share their experience and exchange perspectives on the future projects. In order to more effectively promote Macao’s latest tourism projects, the market representatives will pay an inspection visit to “Anim’Arte Nam Van”, which was newly-opened early this month, as well as other new tourism attraction in the afternoon of 29th June for a first-hand fun experience. For many years, MGTO’s various market representatives have been branding Macao as an ideal destination to visit for leisure and incentive travel through joining travel fairs and organizing various road shows, travel marts and familiarization trips, while targeting different age groups and visitor segments as they promote the destination in diverse ways. Nowadays, more and more visitors choose to travel independently around the world, while independent travelers love to explore new attractions and seek fun experience in different destinations. Therefore, in order to cater to visitors’ needs, MGTO actively develops a variety of tourism products and encourages various market representatives to promote Macao through e-marketing with greater efforts, so that visitors from around the world can gain Macao’s latest travel tips via a wide range of channels, and the diversity of source markets and visitor segments can be significantly expanded. This press release is available at: http://industry.macaotourism.gov.mo/en/pressroom/
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The 28th Macao Arts Festival (MAF), organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), will be held next year in May. In order to promote the development of local arts, IC invites all registered local associations and individuals to submit proposals of local performances until 26 August. The selected works will be included in next year’s MAF programme. The theme of the 28th Macao Arts Festival will be “Space”. All registered local associations and individuals are invited to submit their performance proposals. Programmes’ categories include theatre, dance, children’s shows, and other disciplines. The proposed projects can be original works or works that have been previously staged. Additionally, in order to strengthen the ties between the theme of the 28th MAF and Macao, priority will be given to works in tandem with the theme of the 28th MAF, or those based on locally originated texts or artistic concepts, or works inspired by Macao’s intangible cultural heritage or traditional Chinese performing arts. Interested local associations and individuals should submit registration form and performance proposal including the artistic concept and introduction to the performance, a brief introduction of the team members, budget, set design plan and equipment requirements, as well as other additional information regarding the project. Application Information should be submitted in person by 5:30pm on 26 August to the Cultural Affairs Bureau Building located at Tap Siac Square, indicating the following on the envelope: “Attn: Division of Performing Arts, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Call for Proposals of Local Performances for the 28th Macao Arts Festival” During the selection process, applicants may be required to attend an interview. For details on the application regulations, please visit the Cultural Affairs Bureau website at www.icm.gov.mo or contact staff members of IC Mr. Chong through tel. no. 8399 6624 or email skchong@icm.gov.mo or Mr. Lou through tel. no. 8399 6625 or email cklou@icm.gov.mo, during office hours.
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The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) is launching the 2016 Subsidy Programme for Fashion Design on Sample Making from today. Eligible applicants will be granted subsidies of up to a maximum of MOP160,000 for sample production and promotional materials of selected entries. The maximum quota of the Subsidy Programme is eight persons (groups) and the applications are open from 28 June to 26 August 2016, 5pm. IC launched the Subsidy Programme for Fashion Design on Sample Making in 2013, as part of the Subsidy Programme for Macao’s Cultural and Creative Industries Series. This programme seeks to encourage local fashion design and creativity, promote fashion designers to draw up feasible and optimised business plans, encourage the industry to be involved in commercial activities or participate in local and international fashion marketing activities, enhance the popularity and market competitiveness of the local industry and carry forward the sustainable development of the local fashion design industry. The Programme has been running for three years and has attracted the participation of many fashion designers. It has played a proactive role in the local fashion design industry. For these reasons, IC will continue to organise the Subsidy Programme for Fashion on Sample Making this year. Applicants must hold a valid Macao S.A.R. Resident Identity Card and be 18 years old or above. They can apply on an individual or group basis (max. two persons) by submitting entries and application forms with relevant supporting documents. The selection is divided into two stages: initial review and second review. For the initial review, applicants must submit fashion design drawings of their unpublished, original fashion design entries and the completed application form. The adjudicating panel will select a maximum of 15 entries for the second review based on six criteria: creativity and originality, market potential, quality, overall visual effects, feasibility and degree of perfection of the exhibition plan and business plan, as well as the rationale of budgeting. Applicants selected for the second review will be granted an allowance to produce a fashion sample based on the flat drawings submitted for the initial review, and present it to the adjudicating panel by a model of their choice. Upon completion of the second review, the adjudicating panel will, according to the aforementioned criteria, select a maximum of eight applicants eligible for subsidy up to a maximum of MOP160,000 each, covering the costs for the entire series of the selected entries such as production of samples, promotional materials, and so on. The Programme’s information, application rules and forms can be downloaded at the Cultural Affairs Bureau website (www.icm.gov.mo/en/CCI-Subsidy) and at the Macao Cultural and Creative Industries Website (www.macaucci.com). Applicants should submit all required documents to: Cultural Affairs Bureau - Division for Planning and Developing Cultural and Creative Industries (No. 567, Av. da Praia Grande, Edif. BNU, 12th floor A-D, Macao) during the designated period of time. For enquiries, please contact Ms. Lam, staff member of IC, through tel. no. (853) 2892 4040, during office hours.
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To celebrate the Science and Technology Week 2016, Macao Post announced that a Temporary Post Counter will be set up at the Macau Fisherman’s Wharf Hall and our Philatelic Shop located at Macao Post Headquarters during 6th to 10th July 2016 providing the commemorative cancellation service for the “Science and Technology Week 2016”. Opening hours as follow: 06/07 Main Hall of Macau Fisherman’s Wharf: 14:30 – 18:00 Philatelic Shop of Macao Post Headquarters: 14:30 – 18:00 07-10/07 Main Hall of Macau Fisherman’s Wharf: 10:00 – 20:00 A commemorative envelope will be distributed to public, and various philatelic products will also be available for sale during the above activity. Welcome to visit and collect Macao Stamps.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that both the unemployment rate (1.9%) and the underemployment rate (0.5%) for March-May 2016 remained stable as in February-April 2016. Total labour force was 396,200 and the labour force participation rate stood at 72.0%. Total employment decreased by 1,000 from February-April, at 388,600. Analysed by industry, employment in Restaurants & Similar Activities and Gaming & Junket Activities registered decrease, while that in Wholesale & Retail Trade saw increase. Number of the unemployed was 7,600, down by 100 from February-April; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 5.1% of the total unemployed, up by 0.1 percentage point. In comparison with March-May 2015, the labour force participation rate dropped by 2.0 percentage points, while the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate rose by 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points respectively.
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The Immigration Department of the Public Security Police Force (PSP) launched the second phase of online application service on 3 May 2016 – new applications for non-specialized ‘Non-resident Worker’s Authorization to Stay’ can be made online. The processing time of each application is shortened from 5 working days to 4 working days. The online system is capable of promptly checking the submitted information, identifying errors and suggesting corrections to be made. In this way, an application is less likely to be rejected. The administrative procedures are also reduced to further enhance efficiency. As of 14 June 2016, the online system has received 10,327 new applications for non-specialized ‘Non-resident Worker’s Authorization to Stay’, which took up 92.17% of the total number of applications of this type. A record high of 466 was recorded in a single day. The number of applications approved was 10,031, which was 97.13% of the total. The remaining 2.87% required the applicant to submit the applications in person for further examination. PSP will continue to study and develop more similar online application services, as well as optimize system stability and improve its functions, so as to provide more convenient services to the public.
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The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym) presents the exhibition “Plis & Replis 3－Works by Noël Dolla”, showcasing 32 works by French artist Noël Dolla. As part of Le French May Festival 2016, the exhibition is organized by IC and co-organized by the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macao, the Alliance Française de Macao and the Bernard Ceysson Gallery, and was inaugurated on Friday, 24 June, at 6:30pm, at Tap Seac Gallery. The Vice President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government, Chan Peng Fai; the Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Culture of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao S.A.R., Zhao Chuandong; the Deputy Director of the Department of Public Diplomacy and Information of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Macao S.A.R., Li Xiaoquan; the Director of the Committee of the Alliance Française de Macao, Xavier Garnier; the Representative of the Bernard Ceysson Gallery, François Ceysson; the Artist of the exhibition, Noël Dolla and one of the curator of the exhibition Élodie Antoine attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition. Noël Dolla is the youngest member of the Supports/Surfaces group. In the early 1960s, he participated in the process that led the new phase of the avant-garde art movement. Breaking with the traditional form of the picture, his works were then made of mundane materials, discarding the usual materials and structures and using abstract painting to represent his reflexions and studies on the essence of painting. This exhibition features Noël Dolla’s works over 40 years of his creative career. His works from 1960s to the present feature a unique and diverse style, which inspire the audience to reflect. The exhibition also comprises photographs of a wide array of works exhibited by Noël Dolla around the world, thereby hoping to introduce to the public the painter’s diversity of works and creative ideals as well as share the vitality and creative thinking of this French artist. In addition, Noël Dolla made special on-site creation at Tap Seac Gallery, and thus creating an inspiring artistic experience for the exhibition. The organizer hopes this exhibition can show the rich and varied fruits of French art. The exhibition “Plis & Replis 3－Works by Noël Dolla” is held from 25 June to 9 October, at Tap Seac Gallery, located at No. 95, Avenida do Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida. Admission is free. The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 9pm. Admission is free.
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The Government is paying close attention to the latest developments, following the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union. The Government has initiated a response mechanism to address any possible economic impact of this event on Macao. The Government expects only a limited impact on Macao regarding the consequences of the referendum held yesterday (Thursday) on the U.K.’s membership of the E.U. In particular, Macao holds only a small amount of sterling (British pounds) in the city’s portfolio of foreign currency reserves: only 0.35 percent of Macao’s 150.5 billion patacas (18.8 billion U.S. dollars) in foreign currency reserves is held in sterling. Macao has little direct trade with the U.K.; furthermore, the city’s economy is unlikely to be greatly affected in direct terms by changes in stock markets that are responsive to conditions in the U.K. The Government would take all necessary measures in order to ensure the stability of Macao’s economy and finances, said today the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Leong Vai Tac. Mr Leong also today visited the headquarters of the Macao Monetary Authority. This was in order to gain a better understanding on Macao’s arrangements and strategy for minimising any economic risk to the city stemming from external events. Mr Leong has briefed the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, on Macao’s arrangements regarding this issue. Macao’s sound public finances, well-established fiscal reserve system, stable linked exchange rate system, and healthy financial system enable the Government to cope with volatility in international markets. As of April, Macao had an estimated fiscal reserve of 436.22 billion patacas. This figure does not include the 29.29 billion patacas surplus from the fiscal year of 2015. The Government is closely monitoring updates in the international economy, in order to update – in a timely manner – its investment portfolio. Members of the public are urged to pay extra attention in the near future regarding risk management, in particular when investing in stock markets.
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Consumer Council conducted its latest ‘Supermarket price survey’ in June on 24 June for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included 12 supermarkets in Sé Parish. The latest ‘Supermarket Price Survey’ is now available on Consumer Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo), ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ iPhone and Android apps, and on the Council’s WeChat account page. The survey is also available free of charge at the offices of Consumer Council, IACM’s Iao Hon and S. Domingos Markets, bookstores and libraries. Consumers may also access the resources through WAP channels on their mobile phones. With reference to the local seven parishes and the number of supermarkets in each parish, the Council has divided around 100 supermarkets into 8 areas for price collection. The Council collects prices from these supermarkets for the provision of a more comprehensive database for consumers to check price discrepancies and make price comparisons according to their desired locations. For inquiry, please call 8988 9315.
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