News

In accordance with the recommendations advocated by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on cross border regulatory cooperation, the Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) and the People’s Bank of China (PBC) entered into the “Memorandum of Understanding on Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing” (“MOU”). The AMCM and the PBC, in line with the relevant laws and regulations of the Macao SAR and the Mainland respectively, as well as the standards of the FATF, shall strengthen the exchange of regulatory information and the cooperation in the relevant aspects of supervision. The AMCM has been exerting efforts in enforcing the prevention of activities of money laundering and terrorist financing. The implementation of the MOU shall further enhance and strengthen the management of the prevailing supervisory system to prevent the activities of money laundering and terrorist financing in the financial sector of the Macao SAR.
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The Government would take all measures necessary to maintain stability and smooth operation of the local financial system. The Government expected its investments of financial reserves would gain positive yearly returns despite the temporary loss in stock markets caused by the volatility of external markets recently. The market fluctuation, however, brought limited impact to local banking system, since there was more than 50 billion of floating capital in Macao as of 24 August, and the currency and interest rates market remained steady during the period. Moreover, the Government only invested 41.3 billion patacas into stock markets, which accounts to around 11.8 per cent of the overall investment portfolio. The Government would continue to closely monitor foreign markets and local banking system as to ensure the stability of the economy. Residents are urged to pay extra attention to risk management when investing in stock markets.
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The Macao film project selection for the 2015 Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Film Production Investment and Trade Fair (“The Fair”) was completed on 16th August with ten submissions selected. Ung Vai Meng, President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, and members of the adjudicating panel invited by the Bureau attended the event. The applicants of the selected film projects will be invited to attend the Fair next month where they can meet with investors and producers from the three regions and have the opportunity for further discussion and co-operation. The Fair was co-organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Hong Kong Film Development Council, and the Guangdong Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television since 2014. This year, Macao will host the Fair on 23rd and 24th September and provide a high-level and convenient communication platform for film investors and producers from the three regions. It not only helps to build a channel for film investment and co-operation, but also cultivates filmmaking talents and promotes the film industry in the three regions. Members of the adjudicating panel for this selection include Zheng Dawei, Secretary-general of the Guangdong Motion Picture Industry Association; Albert Chu Iao Ian, President of the Macau Association of Audio-Visual “CUT”; Chan Kin Tak, Macao film director; Rita Wong, film curator; and Chan Peng Fai, Acting Vice President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau. After the discussion by the panel, ten film applications are selected in the assessment procedure. The adjudicating panel selected the eligible film projects based on creativity of the story, experience and execution ability of the applicant and the executive producer and production team, as well as rationale of budgeting. After assessment, all ten applications were passed and will be invited to attend the Fair next month. The panel also provides their suggestions on the film proposals, expecting the eligible applicants will have a better performance at the Fair. Applicants of the selected film projects will receive notification from the Cultural Affairs Bureau in several days. The list will also be published on the Cultural Affairs Bureau website (www.icm.gov.mo) or the Macao Cultural and Creative Industries Website (www.macaucci.com). For enquiries about the results, please contact Mr. Chong or Mr. Leong from the Cultural Affairs Bureau, through tel. no. (853) 2892 4040 during office hours.
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Today (24 August) is the first day of the new academic year at the University of Macau (UM). Everything is running smoothly on the campus. The first day of the new semester saw the influx of more than 500 faculty members and over 9,000 students, including 2,000 new undergraduate and postgraduate students. A student says he is very excited about starting his first day of classes at UM and he looks forward to a new way of learning. UM Rector Wei Zhao expressed thanks to all the colleagues for working hard during the summer holiday to prepare for the new academic year. He hopes UM teachers and students will work harder in the new semester to help UM make new academic progress. In the summer holiday, UM installed new facilities and made improvements to existing facilities, including teaching buildings, sports facilities, and residential buildings, in order to provide the best possible learning and living environment for students and faculty. The frequency of the campus shuttles has also been increased to meet the surging demand. Many students started to queue up for buses to the campus at the Praça de Ferreira do Amaral bus stop around 8:00am this morning. Rector Zhao and Dean of Students Peter Yu visited the bus stop and wished students luck on the first day of school. The Transport Bureau increased bus service frequency during rush hours to provide maximum convenience for UM students. UM also arranged for some shuttle buses to take students to the campus. Rector Zhao and college masters visited some classrooms and dining facilities in the residential colleges to check how students were doing on the first day of school. Rector Zhao also visited several student-run shops to show support. A fourth-year student from the Faculty of Business Administration (FBA), who is also the manager of one of the student-run shops, says: ‘The shop has been running smoothly so far. I would like to thank the university for giving us an opportunity to start our own business. We will do our best to serve the university community.’ Rector Zhao also visited recruitment booths of the Students’ Union and its sub-organisations in the Student Activity Centre to show support. ‘Public transport was very good this morning,’ says a freshman from the Faculty of Law. ‘I was surprised to see the rector greeting students at the bus stop.’ Another freshman from the FBA says: ‘The rector is very friendly and the arrangement for the first day is good. Earlier the university organised sit-in sessions to help students adapt to a new mode of learning.’ A second-year student from the Faculty of Science and Technology says: ‘I look forward to meeting new friends and professors and starting a new way of learning.’
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Consumer Council conducted its seventh ‘Supermarket price survey’ in August on 24 August 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 six 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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The Giant Panda Pavilion offered a specially-made cake to celebrate the seventh birthday of giant panda “Kai Kai” in its first birthday celebrated in Macao. The party was held a day ahead of the birthday of “Kai Kai” on Sunday (23 August), participated by several dozens of residents. “Kai Kai” and the female partner “Xin Xin” have been living here since 30 April and are fully familiar with the environment in the Pavilion. Since their first public appearance in June, the pair has been visited by more than 20,000 visitors. “Kai Kai” is a strong, energetic and dynamic panda which likes climbing and enjoying its bamboo on the two-storey hen roost, where it reaches in just a few steps; while “Xin Xin” is a rather languid and a lovely panda, who always loves rolling on the ground. The cake is made of iced juice, the favourite bamboo of “Kai Kai”, a number of fresh fruits, and fiber-rich biscuits. The Pavilion also held a party last month to celebrate the eighth birthday of “Xin Xin”. Members of the public are welcome to visit the lovely couple on 10 am to 1 pm, and 2 pm to 5 pm from Tuesday to Sunday.
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Secretary for Security, Mr Wong Sio Chak, said the police would step up efforts in preventing and combating crime to maintain a stable and secure environment in Macao. Disclosing the latest crime figures at a press conference on 21 August, Mr Wong said the number of crimes reported in the first half of this year saw a slight drop of 0.9% compared to the corresponding period last year, with no or low-level of serious crime. The police conducted 7,025 criminal investigations in the first six months of the year, down 0.9 per cent with less 65 cases. Violent crimes, however, showed a rise of three per cent to 410 cases, the increase mainly in false imprisonment. Other serious crimes, such as murder, kidnap, and grievous assault, remained at the level of zero or low. Usury went up 39.1 per cent to 153 cases while false imprisonment rose 112.5 per cent to 170 cases. Mr Wong stressed the surge of gaming-related crimes showed little correlations to the drop of gaming revenue, but a result of strengthened law enforcement. The police would stay vigilant to the possible impact brought by the gaming industry. Meanwhile, there were 127 cases of telephone fraud, decreased from 144 cases in the same period last year. Cases involving telephone scammers pretending to be personnel of the mainland authorities and banks happened mostly in April and May, but after strengthened promotion and co-operation with the mainland the number became fewer in June, Mr Wong said. Crimes against society fell by 6.1 per cent to 460 cases, among which using forged documents and transferring counterfeit money plunged 39.3 per cent and 55.4 per cent respectively, plus six cases of arson in the first half of this year. There were 32 cases of juvenile crimes, with increase of two cases, involving 56 young people. Illegal immigrants and over-stayers caught in the first six months saw a sharp decrease to 16,702, among them 1,462 were from overseas and 15,240 were from the mainland. In the first half of 2015, the police had prosecuted 3,037 taxi irregularities, including 730 cases of overcharging (24%) and 919 cases of refusing to take passengers (30%).
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Due to the MERS outbreak in June this year, many consumers needed to cancel their flight tickets heading to Korea. Consumer Council received 46 complaint cases in which consumers could not get in touch with the airline company for ticket cancellation. All disputes were solved after follow-up by the Council. The MERS outbreak in Korea happened earlier in high season, and consumers were advised not to travel to Korea by governments of all regions. Consumer Council received 79 cases regarding flight ticket cancellation of consumers during June and July, around 50 complaint cases were solved by extending the valid period of flight tickets, change of destination, or ticket cancellation with service charges. The Council indicates that 46 cases involved consumers purchasing tickets online from the airline company website but were unable to contact the airline company when trying to cancel their tickets. Consumers approached the Council for help and the Council finally reached the airline company, where its registered office is in Korea, and succeeded in helping consumers resolving their cases and meeting their needs. The Council indicates that a lot of consumers now tend to purchase their flight tickets online from airline companies registered overseas, this kind of distance selling involves issues such as applicable laws and enforcement, and these make procedures for handling the dispute more complicated when dispute arises. Prepayment consumption consists of all kinds of risks, consumers are advised to check the background information of the website and make sure it is reachable, payment with credit card is better than making transfer through bank accounts since consumers may ask the credit card company to terminate the transaction in case the website is shut down, or service or products could not be provided. For enquiry, please call 89889315.
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) is engaged in an occasion in Qinghai named the “Beautiful China – The Magnificent Qinghai along the Silk Road and the Event for Exchange and Cooperation in Tourism between Qinghai, Hong Kong and Macau”. During the event, MGTO signed a “Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in Tourism” with the Tourism Administration of Qinghai Province today (21 August) to foster mutual exchanges and cooperation in tourism. Under the guidance of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), the “Beautiful China –The Magnificent Qinghai along the Silk Road and the Event for Exchange and Cooperation in Tourism between Qinghai, Hong Kong and Macau” is jointly organized by Tourism Administration of Qinghai Province, Tourism Commission of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macau Government Tourist Office together in Xining, Qinghai from 20 – 24 August. MGTO Deputy Director Cecilia Tse led a delegation of MGTO and members of Macau travel trade to participate in the above event. The “Beautiful China – The Magnificent Qinghai along the Silk Road and the Event for Exchange and Cooperation in Tourism between Qinghai, Hong Kong and Macau” features travel mart, destination presentation, signing ceremony, evening banquet, familiarization visits and so on. The delegations from Hong Kong and Macau were received by CNTA Vice Chairman, Du Jiang as well as Governor of Qinghai Province, Hao Peng and Deputy Governor of Qinghai Province, Han Jianhua. On 21 August, the destination presentation took place with the signing ceremony, when the “Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in Tourism” was signed by the Director of Tourism Administration of Qinghai Province, Xu Hao and MGTO Deputy Director Cecilia Tse to enhance cooperation and communication between the two tourism authorities, and more than that, to foster tourism developments on both destinations. CNTA Vice Chairman, Du Jiang; Deputy Governor of Qinghai Province, Han Jianhua and Head of the Department of Tourism Affairs for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan of CNTA, Liu Kezhi witnessed the ceremony together with other guests. During the destination presentation, MGTO elaborated Macau’s tourism development and promoted the latest tourism facilities and products while publicizing Macau’s positioning as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure. Tourism Administration of Qinghai Province and Hong Kong Tourism Board each gave an informative presentation about their destination and tourism resources as well. In her speech during the destination presentation, Deputy Director Cecilia Tse remarked that the delegation was given this valuable opportunity to visit the tourism products and cultural attractions of the reputed “Magnificent Qinghai”; the visit has familiarized the Macau delegation with the precious tourism and cultural assets Qinghai offers, which helps the two destinations to develop tourism business with each other. By signing the “Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in Tourism” with Tourism Administration of Qinghai Province, it serves the purpose of promoting mutual tourism development of both destinations through business networking and cooperation in destination marketing. Tse hopes that Macau and Qinghai will see a greater development potential in the tourism field by leveraging new opportunities arising from the “Belt and Road Initiative”. The MGTO delegation and travel trade will visit various tourist attractions and cultural facilities in Qinghai on 22 and 23 August including Qinghai Lake, Qinghai Tibetan Medicine and Culture Museum, Ta’er Lamasery, Danxia Scenic Area in Ashigong National Geological Park, Chinese Wheel of Good Fortune (Mani prayer wheel) and so forth. Through participation in the event, MGTO seeks to deepen cooperation in tourism between Macau and Qinghai. The Office also strives to create opportunities for travel industry partners from Macau and Qinghai to connect and share their latest industry news and tourism products with each other so that they can build stronger connections and new partnerships. The famous Silk Road is a major network of overland trade routes spanning Asian and European continents in ancient times. The Country proposed an important initiative about building the new Silk Road Economic Belt to boost regional tourism developments along the Silk Road. CNTA led a Mainland tourism delegation to Macau this April to organize an array of promotional activities under the “Beautiful China, 2015 — Year of Silk Road Tourism Presentation”. Mainland provinces including Gansu, Qinghai and Guizhou, along with Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region presented their latest designed theme tour routes and products to Macau travel trade.
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For the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June, Consumer Council conducted its specific price surveys on oral care products, tissue papers and milk powder on 20 August. Results of the mentioned surveys have been uploaded to the Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo) and are available in the Council’s ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ iPhone and Android apps. For inquiry, please call the Council’s hotline: 8988 9315.
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