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At the 14th Macao-wide English Speech Contest & 21st ‘21st Century Cup’ National English Speaking Competition (Macao Regional Contest), six students from the University of Macau (UM) Public Speaking Team won the championship in the college category and several other prizes, including a second prize in the college category, the Best Impromptu Speaker Award, and the Most Humorous Speaker Award. Romina Eloisa Abuan, a first-year student from the Faculty of Business Administration, won the first prize in the college category and the Best Impromptu Speaker Award. Bianca Margarita, a first-year student from the Faculty of Social Sciences, won a second prize in the college category and the Most Humorous Speaker Award. Zhang Yixin, Simone Chan, Wu Zenan, and Liu Shanshan each received a merit award. The topic of the final contest in the college category is ‘Citizenship in the 21st Century’. In the final, each contestant was required to deliver a four-minute speech and a two-minute impromptu speech and answer two questions. The theme of this year’s contest is ‘Global Values’. There are six categories in the competition, including the open category, the college category, and the high school category.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that there were 28 banks in Macao and number of full-time employees totalled 5,928 at the end of the third quarter of 2015, an increase of 255 year-on-year. Analysed by occupation, there were 1,632 directors and managers, and 2,046 clerks (including 750 bank tellers). In September 2015, average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) of full-time employees amounted to MOP24,910, up by 8.0% year-on-year. Average earnings of bank tellers increased by 12.3% to MOP14,690. At the end of the third quarter of 2015, job vacancies remained stable as a year ago, at 247; vacancies for clerk totalled 110, including 37 for bank tellers. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 58.3% of the vacancies required working experience, 93.1% required tertiary education, and requirement for knowledge of Mandarin and English accounted for 96.4% and 96.8% respectively. In the third quarter of 2015, the Banking Sector hired 483 new employees; the employee recruitment rate (8.3%) and the employee turnover rate (5.7%) fell by 1.0 and 0.8 percentage points respectively year-on-year, indicating that the manpower situation of the Banking Sector was relatively stable in this quarter. As regards vocational training, the Banking Sector had 6,065 employee participants attending training courses provided by the employer (including courses organized by the banks or in conjunction with other institutions, and those sponsored by the banks). About 83.3% of the participants attended courses organized by the banks. The majority of the participants (68.8%) attended Business & Administration courses, followed by Law courses (20.0%).
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The University of Macau (UM) Fencing Team recently won two silver medals at the 21st All China University Fencing Championship held at Tianjin Foreign Studies University. This year’s competition attracted 533 students from 32 universities in China. Zhang Mila, a fourth-year student from the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS), won a silver medal in the Women’s Individual Foil Group A category. Guo Zeqian, a postgraduate student from the Faculty of Business Administration; Ruan Yishuo, a fourth-year student from the FSS; Liu Yuchen, a fourth-year student from the Faculty of Science and Technology; and Shi Xin, a fourth-year student from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, won another silver medal in the Men’s Team Sabre Group A category.
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The Government is conducting a three-month public consultation about the Macao SAR’s Five-Year Development Plan – covering the period 2016 to 2020 – which is designed to transform Macao into an international city. The consultation aims to collect views from the public on topics including how to create more favourable living and working conditions in Macao, and regarding transport, travel and entertainment in Macao. The information was disclosed by some members of the Committee for Development of the World Centre for Tourism and Leisure, at a press conference on 17 November. The press conference followed the Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2016 delivered by the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, at a plenary session of the Legislative Assembly. Details of the public consultation was given by Government Spokesperson, Mr Chan Chi Ping; Advisor to the Chief Executive’s Office, Ms Lei Ngan Leng; and Deputy Director of the Policy Research Office, Mr Ung Hoi Ian. The consultation document, composed by the Committee, mentions seven major planning goals for the coming five years. These are: to maintain economic vitality; develop the structure of local industry; optimise infrastructure in pursuit of creating an international tourism city; to enhance local people’s quality of life; to improve the quality of education; to raise awareness on environmental protection; and to strengthen the effectiveness of governance and the rule of law. The Committee also plans to promote a more in-depth understanding on how to develop Macao’s strategic position as a world centre for tourism and leisure, (known as the “Centre” policy). The Committee will also outline four development phases for realising the “Centre” policy. Members of the public are welcome to contribute their opinions before 16 February 2016, via the website of the Committee (http://www.cccmtl.gov.mo/); or by email to message@gep.gov.mo; or by fax to 2882 3426; or by telephone on 2882 3610.
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The “Parade through Macao, Latin City”, organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym) in celebration of the 16th anniversary of Macao’s handover to China and the 10th anniversary of the inscription of “The Historic Centre of Macao” on World Heritage List, will be held on Sunday, 6 December 2015. This year, IC has once again joined hands with several local associations and organizations to recruit VIVA Ambassadors for providing assistance during the event. The VIVA Ambassadors will declare their commitment to the event in an oath ceremony, which will be held on Saturday, 21 November 2015, at 3pm at the Largo da Companhia de Jesus. IC has co-operated with the Bank of China Macau Branch Volunteers Association, the Macau Flying Eagles Association, the Macao Community Youth Volunteers Development Association, the General Volunteers Association of Macao, the Scout Association of Macau and the Association of Volunteers Social Service Macao to recruit 550 Macao residents as VIVA Ambassadors. During the Parade, the Ambassadors will be assigned different tasks including crowd control, maintenance of public order and souvenir distribution, as well as assistance on the interaction between performers and audience. The VIVA Ambassadors will attend training sessions, site inspections and rehearsals, in order to ensure that they are well-prepared for the Parade, enabling the public can enjoy the event under an orderly and pleasurable environment, spreading their happiness with the Macao handover to every corner of the city. The “Parade through Macao, Latin City” is one of the most important activities in celebration of Macao’s handover to China and it has become the city’s signature festivity since 2011. This year’s Parade carries forward the motto “An Annual Celebration for the Entire City – VIVA!” and is themed “Fantastic VIVA Treasure Hunt Adventure”. VIVA will lead the public in a fantastic adventure, uncovering Macao’s three mysterious treasures and promoting the ideals of “Peace, Love and Cultural Integration”, celebrating Macao’s handover all together.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, said during the Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2016 today that the Government is confident in Macao’s long-term development, given its stable financial condition and low unemployment rate. Other elements favouring Macao in achieving further success included its healthy fiscal surplus, its large-scale infrastructure projects being carried out progressively, and its low inflation rate, Mr Chui added. Delivering his Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2016 at a plenary session of the Legislative Assembly this afternoon, Mr Chui reiterated the Government’s belief that “enhancing livelihoods while developing the economy” is the driving force for boosting regional cooperation, promoting adequate diversification of the economy and achieving the goals of the “Centre and Platform” policies. “Centre and Platform” refers to transforming Macao into a world centre for tourism and leisure and into a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries. Looking to the year ahead, Mr Chui said the Government would continue to adhere to its principle of keeping expenditure within the limits of revenue when drawing up its budget, as well as striving for fiscal balance. He added that the Government has a well-established mechanism for managing its fiscal reserve in order to cope with challenges arising during the consolidation period of the city’s gaming industry. The Chief Executive highlighted five ways to advance the city’s economy. They are: to promote healthy development of the gaming industry; to intensify the development of the “Centre” policy; to create a favourable environment for emerging industries and support local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); to protect employment rights of local residents; and to strengthen regional cooperation. The Government would conduct an analysis of the city’s gaming sector upon completing its mid-term review of the industry, Mr Chui said. Factors under review include: how agreements set out in the gaming concessions have been executed; gaming-related legislation; synergies between gaming and non-gaming elements; the development of the gaming promoter industry; and the influence the gaming sector has on the local economy, SMEs, the community and residents’ livelihoods. The Government would encourage gaming operators to engage more in large-scale tourism projects that would help diversify the sector by offering more leisure activities and non-gaming elements, Mr Chui stated. Regarding tourism, the Government would continue to upgrade the city’s infrastructure and accommodation, further promoting Macao’s special role as a destination for cultural heritage and leisure tourism. The direction of policy is to explore ways of diversifying international source markets for the city’s tourists, to promote further the Historic Centre of Macao, and to ensure Macao is marketed via multi-destination travel packages. Meanwhile, the Government would continue to evaluate the city’s capacity for receiving tourists, in an effort to achieve a balanced development model and ensure residents’ quality of life remains unaffected. “Cultivating emerging industries and supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises” is one of Mr Chui’s strategies to expedite adequate diversification of the economy mentioned in the Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2016. He said the Government would devise a system of statistical benchmarks for a number of local industries. They are: the meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions (MICE) industry; the cultural and creative industries; and Chinese medicine. In the coming year, the Government would launch measures to broaden the role of the Young Entrepreneurs Aid Scheme so that it covers the three major free trade zones in Guangdong Province. The Government would also introduce a young innovators business scheme with Internet-related business as the main theme. The Chief Executive said the Government had always attached great importance to protecting the employment rights of local residents and to improving their upward mobility or alternatively their horizontal mobility in their career or with their employer. The Government also encouraged local and large-scale enterprises to provide on-the-job training and salary increments, as a way to maintain the stability of their workforces, he said. Mr Chui stated the Government would continue to optimise the Labour Relations Law. Amendments include introducing a paid paternity leave and examination of issues arising from when a statutory holiday falls on an employee’s rest day. The Law on Employment of Non-Resident Workers would be reviewed next year. A proposal for a law regulating part-time workers would be also prepared, Mr Chui said. Regarding regional cooperation, the Government would step up efforts in: facilitating the establishment of the “Platform” and “Three Centres” policies; seizing the development opportunities arising from the country’s “Belt and Road” initiative; and strengthening cooperation and exchange with countries and regions connected to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Portuguese-speaking Countries and Latin Countries. The “Three Centres” is a strategy to help Macao become respectively: a business and trade service centre for the SMEs in Portuguese-speaking Countries; a distribution centre for Portuguese-speaking Countries’ goods; and a convention and exhibition centre for economic and trade cooperation between China, Macao and Portuguese-speaking Countries. Mr Chui said the Government would continue to: play its special role in the country’s 13th five-year plan; coordinate local socioeconomic development; and make good use of the development opportunities arising from the Mainland and Macao Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA). It would also press ahead with liberalisation of bilateral trade and commerce according to the Framework Agreement on Cooperation between Guangdong and Macao. The Government would gradually invest a part of the fiscal reserve in major large-scale construction projects in Guangdong and Fujian, and other country-led projects, as a way to guarantee returns on, and the value of, the reserve, Mr Chui said. A full copy of the Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2016 and leaflets on it are available for download on the Government Portal website of the Macao SAR (http://www.gov.mo); the website of the Chief Executive’s Office (http://www.gce.gov.mo); the website of the Legislative Assembly (http://www.al.gov.mo); and the website of the Government Information Bureau (http://www.gcs.gov.mo);
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The Government would give great weight to all projects relating to the enhancement of local residents’ livelihoods and push forward policies for the adequate diversification of the economy, said the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, today. Mr Chui made the remarks during his annual Policy Address session at the Legislative Assembly this afternoon. The Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2016 was entitled “Focusing on livelihoods, boosting the economy and ensuring stable development”. Enhancing local people’s livelihoods is at the centre of policy, and that would continue in the policy programme for the coming year, by observing the principles of “putting the people first” and “scientific decision-making”, Mr Chui said. The Government is dedicated to: pressing ahead with projects relating to livelihood and welfare; to improving mechanisms on social security; to stepping up efforts to address local people’s housing needs; to enhancing healthcare service quality; and to upgrading the quality of education in an effort to cultivate even greater numbers of talented local residents. Welfare is one of the most important elements in establishing a long-term mechanism for improving livelihoods, and is a pragmatic way of sharing the fruits of economic development, Mr Chui said. The Government would use short- and medium-term measures to ensure: construction of such a welfare mechanism; that sources for such welfare are used appropriately; and that projects relating to the improvement of local people’s livelihoods are optimised, he added. Mr Chui said the Government would continue implementing the Welfare Partaking Scheme. Under the current arrangements, each permanent resident receives 9,000 patacas and each non-permanent resident gets 5,400 patacas. The Government would inject 10,000 patacas of seed capital into the Central Provident Fund savings account of every eligible resident. In 2016 the Government would inject an additional 7,000 patacas from the fiscal surplus into those eligible accounts, he added. Mr Chui said that in the coming year the Government proposed to increase public subsidies on a number of relief measures. The minimum subsistence index would be raised to 4,050 patacas; the Government-disbursed elderly pension to 3,350 patacas per month, and the old age allowance to 8,000 patacas per year. Mr Chui announced there would be an extra allowance, equivalent to one month’s-worth of financial assistance, to eligible families for certain relief measures. Relief measures such as the special living allowance, special subsidy to disadvantaged families, the short-term food assistance programme, disability gratuity and health voucher programme would be continued in the coming year. For eligible students, the Government would increase allowances for meals and textbooks. The Continuing Education Programme, which offers study allowances for Macao residents enrolled in a tertiary education programme or training programme, will continue supporting the development of local talent. For employed residents, the first 30 percent of annual income from employment will continue to be tax free, up to a ceiling of 144,000 patacas. There would be also a 60 percent rebate on the personal income tax paid by each tax-paying Macao resident. That would be subject to a ceiling of 12,000 patacas and rebates to be received in 2017, he said. The Government would continue to subsidise low-income full-time employees with up to 5,000 patacas per month. For residents that are first-time homebuyers, the Government would waive real estate stamp duty for the first three million patacas of a home’s value. The Chief Executive said the Government would expedite the establishment of a comprehensive social security mechanism, which includes a social security fund, social aid and welfare payments. The Government would foster the building of a long-term mechanism on social security that was based on a multi-pronged and multi-dimensional model. To realise this goal, Mr Chui said the Government would inject 37 billion patacas into the Social Security Fund in order to maintain its sustainability. It would also strengthen its efforts in promoting a two-tier social security system. He said the Government would act in line with the 10-year (2016 to 2025) Action Plan for Elderly Services and would set up an interdepartmental committee on a mechanism for protective services for the elderly. Regarding housing policy, Mr Chui stressed the Government would rationally allocate public resources and press ahead with public housing construction projects. He announced the Government would initiate an overall plan for urban planning in order to monitor closely the manner of the city’s development. Next year, the Government would form an urban renewal committee to conduct related research and push forward redevelopment in old districts. Undeveloped land – plots previously classified as “idle” and that might revert to the Government – would be identified as priority sites for building public housing, said Mr Chui. The Government would foster allocation of public housing and strengthen management of such housing resources and would introduce effective measures to maintain a healthy development of the housing market. Regarding healthcare, Mr Chui said the Government attached great importance to improving local people’s health. To realise that aim, Mr Chui suggested special health care services for the elderly should be introduced at health centres and that traditional medicine should be provided at primary healthcare services venues. The Government would also strengthen cooperation with non-governmental organisations in order to broaden healthcare services provided to local residents. The Government would launch a mechanism encouraging continuous learning by healthcare specialists, and also optimise ways of protecting frontline medical personnel. The Government has been actively promoting the inclusion of traditional medicine in its primary healthcare system, since the establishment in Macau in August this year of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine. The Government supports via its education policies the visions of “letting Macao thrive through education” and “building Macao with talented individuals”. In the coming year, the Government would continue to optimise education-related regulation and planning in order further to improve Macao’s economic competitiveness and the overall qualification of the residents. The Government would also: complete an interim review for the 10-year Plan for Non-tertiary Education; commence research on what level of demand for qualified professionals would exist in Macao in the coming three to six years; train sufficient people to meet that demand so improving upward mobility of local residents; and introduce policies to attract back to the city talented Macao people that are currently living overseas. The Full Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2016 and pamphlets in Chinese and Portuguese summarising it will be available at the following locations: the Government Head Office Auxiliary Bureau; the Government Information Bureau; the Government Printing Bureau; the Public Information Centre; the headquarters of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau; the Macao Central Library; and at the Macao Post. The materials are also available for download on the websites of these public bodies.

Video:【GCS】Chief ExecuitvePlease go to GCS YOUTUBE Channel for more video clips: http://youtube.com/macaogcs

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A research team from the University of Macau (UM) recently received the Best Paper Award at the European Solid-State Circuits Conference (ESSCIRC) 2015 held in Graz, Austria. The ESSCIRC is considered ‘Europe’s “Chip Olympics”’. This year’s conference attracted 200 high-quality papers from around the world. The UM team is comprised of assistant professor Zhu Yan and PhD student Chan Chi Hang from the State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI; Prof U Seng Pan from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology; and Vice Rector (Research) Rui Martins. The research project covered in the award-winning paper, titled ‘11-bit 900MS/s Time-Interleaved Subranging Pipelined-SAR ADC’, proposes three key innovations, in ADC architecture, sampling front-end, and digital calibration techniques, which can help ADC achieve excellent energy efficiency, linearity, and accuracy even at an extremely high speed. Compared to the designs published at this year’s IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), the design by the UM team not only can avoid complex timing-skew calibration, but can also achieve a much better dynamic performance with extremely small area and low power consumption. This high-speed, high-resolution ADC can have many applications, including in wireless communication, high-speed Ethernet, broadband satellite, and power line communication. The outcomes of the project also increases the possibility of technology transfer in the future. Prof U Seng Pan says that UM’s microelectronics team has gained increasing international recognition for its achievements in chip design, and is influential in different fields, particularly in the field of ADC with low power consumption and high performance. UM is now ranked No 2 in the world in terms of the number of papers published in journals and at conferences which are the most renowned in the field of integrated circuits and which only accept results with successful measurements from fabricated silicon chips. Dr Zhu Yan has been involved in research in ADC with high speed and low power consumption and digital calibration for many years. She has published ten journal papers and 26 conference papers, and holds four US patents. Zhu says that the award is a result of the challenging yet farsighted research goals set by the supervisor, the joint effort of all team members, and, more importantly, the support of UM and the Science and Technology Development Fund, which allowed the team to work in a first-class research environment. Launched in 1974, the ESSCIRC is one of the most influential conferences in the field of electrical and electronic engineering. It is considered ‘Europe’s Chip Olympics’. This year’s conference attracted experts and scholars from around the world.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the number and value of real estate transactions in the third quarter of 2015 decreased by 24.7% and 30.7% respectively quarter-to-quarter as per Stamp Duty record, of which pre-sale residential units dropped by over 40% in both number and value terms. A total of 2,323 building units and parking spaces were purchased and sold at MOP12.49 billion in the third quarter. Purchase and sale of residential units totalled 1,537 at MOP8.62 billion, down by 17.5% and 26.6% respectively quarter-to-quarter. Among them, transaction of pre-sale residential units totalled 246 at MOP2.34 billion, down substantially by 46.1% and 47.7% respectively; existing residential units dropped by 8.3% to 1,291 with the total value falling by 13.6% to MOP6.29 billion. The average price of residential units decreased by 11.5% quarter-to-quarter to MOP84,342 per square metre of usable area in the third quarter. The average price of pre-sale residential units also dropped at a similar pace to MOP113,857 per square meter, with that in Taipa, Coloane and the Macao Peninsula falling by 9.2%, 4.5% and 1.7% respectively. Many of the pre-sale residential units purchased and sold were in Coloane, Novos Aterros da Areia Preta (NATAP) and Guia, and the average price was MOP105,786, MOP103,619 and MOP103,210 respectively per square metre. The average price of existing residential units decreased by 6.2% quarter-to-quarter to MOP76,711 per square meter, with that in Coloane, Taipa and the Macao Peninsula dropping by 9.1%, 8.8% and 4.9% respectively. Many of the existing residential units purchased and sold were in Baixa da Taipa, NATAP and Areia Preta & Iao Hon, and the average price was MOP86,647, MOP90,408 and MOP72,851 respectively per square meter. Analysed by year of completion, there were 812 residential units built more than 20 years ago (111 in Areia Preta & Iao Hon, 92 in Barca) and the average price was MOP64,770 per square metre, down by 4.5% quarter-to-quarter. For the 277 residential units completed between 11 and 20 years ago (83 in Baixa da Taipa, 39 in NATAP), the average price decreased by 8.8% quarter-to-quarter to MOP76,087 per square metre. The average price of the 105 residential units completed within 5 years or less (32 in NATAP, 15 in Doca do Lamau) dropped by 7.3%, at MOP108,429 per square metre. Analysed by usable floor area, there were 744 residential units having a floor area of 50 to 99.9 square metres, and the average price fell by 5.2% quarter-to-quarter to MOP84,926 per square metre. Among the 547 small-sized residential units having a floor area of less than 50 square metres, the average price dropped by 19.5% to MOP73,993 per square metre. The average price per square metre of office units decreased by 13.0% quarter-to-quarter to MOP102,967, while that of industrial units dropped by 9.1%, at MOP50,205. In the third quarter of 2015, there were 2,734 real estate sale contracts signed, involving 2,747 properties, up by 8.6% quarter-to-quarter; meanwhile, 2,949 mortgage contracts were signed, involving 3,989 properties, down slightly by 0.9%. As regards construction in the private sector, gross floor area of construction of new buildings totalled 465,456 square metres, providing 2,815 units (2,757 are residential units), 1,572 parking spaces for cars and 896 parking spaces for motorcycles upon completion. Meanwhile, gross floor area of buildings completed totalled 106,285 square metres, altogether providing 524 units (491 are residential units), 396 parking spaces for cars and 198 parking spaces for motorcycles.
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The Macao Orchestra under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Bureau brings the first New Year’s Concert in Viennese style, one of the special production series, Starry Vienna - New Year Concert, which will be held on 30 December, Wednesday, at Macao Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium. The prestigious conductor Martin Sieghart from Vienna has been invited to present the New Year’s concert in Macao, bringing refined music as blessings to aficionados and filling up the city with festive atmosphere. Tickets are now on sale from the Macau Ticketing Network. The tradition of the New Year’s Concert is originated in Vienna, the capital of Austria, signifying the commencement of a new year in relaxing and fascinating music. The annual New Year’s concert in Vienna is one of the most spectacular music events in the world. It not only enjoys great international popularity through the worldwide television broadcast over 40 countries, it also delights over a billion audience. Macao Orchestra collaborates with Martin Sieghart from Vienna to present the first New Year’s concert in a pure Viennese style. A number of masterpieces by Johann Strasuss II including The Bat, Overture to A Night in Venice, as well as other traditional works like Intermezzo from 1001 Nights, The Blue Danube waltz and Sphärenklänge waltz, will be presented, allowing audiences to enjoy themselves as in an actual Vienna concert. Tickets for the Starry Vienna - New Year Concert are now on sale at MOP350, MOP300, MOP200 and MOP100 with various discounts packages. Ticketing hotline: (853) 2855 5555. For more information and enquiries, please visit Macao Orchestra webpage: www.icm.gov.mo/om.
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