News

To put the people first, to carry out missions pro-actively, to improve on timelines and have the courage to assume responsibilities are the policy principles to be followed to conduct administrative reforms, according to the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Chan Hoi Fan. Ms Chan made these comments during her visits to the Printing Bureau and the Legal and Judicial Training Centre on 19 January; the following two days, she visited different registry departments and notary offices, the Law Reform and International Law Bureau and the Identification Services Bureau. She spoke highly of their achievements over the years and thanked them for their efforts to enhance public services; but more technology should be implemented to further enhance work efficiency. The Government attaches great importance to the principle of legal ruling, urging the officials to put more efforts in grouping more legal personnel, increasing efficiency on legal reform, especially the laws related to the people's livelihood and the fundamentals of the rule of law.
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Revision of the Budget Framework Law would be completed by the first quarter of this year and expected to be approved by the Legislative Assembly in 2016, according to the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Leong Vai Tac. If the processes are on schedule, the revised version could be applied to close the fiscal year 2016 and prepare the budget proposals for fiscal year 2017, he said. Speaking to reporters after attending a standing committee of the Legislative Assembly, Mr Leong said the Government would need a double-entry bookkeeping system to better monitor public spending. Upon completion of drafting, the proposal would be given to legal department for more professional opinions, he said. The Government paid full attention to the public's views and would consider conducting a public consultation to collect more opinions; but at this stage he would focus on drafting the proposals, he said.
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Consumer Council conducted its sixth 'Supermarket price survey' in January on 21 January for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included supermarkets in São Lázaro and São Lourenço Parishes. The latest 'Supermarket Price Survey' is now available on Consumer Council's website (www.consumer.gov.mo), and the 'Supermarket Price Information Platform' iPhone and Android apps. 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 over 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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Three undergraduate students from the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau (UM), namely Lo Ka In, Lei Sin Ian, and Lam Ut Ngo, received a second prize at the Contemporary Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling of China (CUMCM). More than 22,000 teams participated in this year's contest, and only 6 per cent of them received first or second prizes. It was the first time UM participated in the contest. The three winning students were led by Dr Liu Zhi, assistant professor from the Department of Mathematics. The CUMCM is a national contest in mathematical modelling. It is also the largest mathematical modelling contest in the world. In 2014, it attracted more than 25,347 teams consisting of 70,000 students from 33 provinces and cities in China (including Hong Kong and Macao), Singapore, and the United States. The UM team won the prize with their design of a "creative folding table". By labelling the coordinates of some discrete points on the edges of the table using a 3-dimensional coordinate system and then creating an auto-run Matlab programme, the design enables the features of the table to display based on the parameters input by the customers according to their preferences. The Department of Mathematics attaches great importance to improving students' modelling abilities. Prior to this contest, some students from the department also won prizes at the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) in the US and a national contest for postgraduate students in China.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the inflation rate for 2014 stood at 6.05% and the annual average Composite CPI was 101.11. Inflation was mainly fuelled by higher rentals for dwellings and rising charges for eating out, which drove up the inflation rate by 4.2 percentage points. For the whole year of 2014, notable increase was observed in the price index of Housing & Fuels (+11.93%); and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+6.11%), while price index of Communication decreased by 0.31%. The average CPI-A (100.99) and CPI-B (100.42) increased by 6.58% and 5.89% year-on-year. The Composite CPI (103.45) for December 2014 increased by 5.59% year-on-year. Significant increase was observed in the price index of Housing & Fuels (+11.69%); Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+5.83%); and Health (+5.42%) on account of rising rentals for dwellings, as well as dearer charges for eating out and out-patient services. The CPI-A (103.57) and CPI-B (102.45) for December 2014 increased by 6.24% and 5.16% respectively year-on-year. The Composite CPI for December 2014 increased by 0.29% month-to-month. Higher prices of winter clothing and rising charges for package tours pushed up the price index of Clothing & Footwear; and Recreation & Culture by 2.46% and 1.67% respectively. On the contrary, price index of Transport decreased by 1.35% due to lower prices of gasoline. The CPI-A and CPI-B increased by 0.30% and 0.22% respectively month-to-month. The average Composite CPI (103.09) for the fourth quarter of 2014 increased by 5.96% year-on-year, with the price index of Housing & Fuels; and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages increasing by 11.97% and 6.03% respectively. The average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 6.54% and 5.67% respectively. The Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general households. The CPI-A relates to about 50% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP10,000 to MOP29,999. The CPI-B relates to about 30% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP30,000 to MOP54,999.
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The Government would launch more measures to solve problems with the physically challenged due to their ageing caregivers, said the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Mr Tam Chon Weng. Social services would be extended to make sure everyone including the different ethnic groups would receive appropriate help when in need. Mr Tam spoke to reporters after his visits to two rehabilitation centres on 20 January, where he also met with the representatives of the centres. In consideration of the problems the sector faced, such as hiking rents and the lack of manpower, Mr Tam said the Government would analyse the opinions on adjusting the subsidy schemes. Mr Tam said the Government had a preliminary plan on using industrial buildings for social services. And the last thing he wanted to see was the closure of social service agency due to lack of resources, he said. When asked reform of the medical system, Mr Tam said the Health Bureau would provide more information next week, such as a mobile application for the waiting list for hospital services and plans to hire more medical professionals.
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Government departments would streamline their administrative processes and make more use of technology further enhance efficiency, said the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Mr Raimundo Rosario. He said this when he visited three departments on 19 January, to get a better understanding of the operations and the difficulties that frontline officers faced. Mr Rosario urged officials of the Housing Bureau to follow the policy principle of "putting people first" and listening to the people's opinion to formulate more people-centred policies. He said the application process could be put online and processed with computers to promptly response to the increasing demands on housing. When Mr Raimundo Rosario visited the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau, he attended a presentation and inspected every department. He said he attached great attention to the process of approving building plan and asked department officials to shorten the processing time. Later in the day, he visited the Transport Bureau and asked the officials to further utilise the existing mobile application to disseminate transportation messages to let give the people better grasps on the traffic situation.
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes announced today (21 January) that the total of visitor arrivals surpassed 31.5 million with a surge of 7.5% in Macau last year. Entering 2015, MGTO will focus on five key work goals in line with the SAR Government's strategic positioning to build Macau into a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure. MGTO held the Annual Press Conference at Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Centre today (21 January) to deliver a retrospective summary of last year's tourism development followed by the Director's presentation of MGTO's objectives and strategies in 2015. Nearly 500 guests attended the conference including MGTO's overseas representatives and local industry partners as well as nearly 90 members of the press from Macau, Hong Kong, Mainland China and overseas. The media attendees also include international journalists based in Macau and Hong Kong. MGTO revealed that last year's visitor arrivals topped 31.5 million in Macau and increased by 7.5% year-on-year according to preliminary statistics. Visitors from the Greater China region surpassed 28 million with a rise of 8.5%, whereas the international visitor number dropped slightly by 1.1%. Nonetheless, the numbers of overnight-stay visitors and hotel overnight guests both saw a growth in 2014. The overnight-stay visitor number was up by 2.1% throughout the year while the total of hotel overnight guests showed an increase of 0.4%. The Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan continue to rank as the top three tourist markets for Macau. Macau received over 21 million Mainland visitors with a year-on-year growth of 14.1% last year. 42% of them came from Guangdong Province. In terms of international visitors, the yearly total of Korean visitors exceeded 550 thousand and surged remarkably by 16.9%. MGTO expressed that over 14.5 million visitors stayed overnight in Macau last year, constituting 46.2% of total visitor arrivals with an increase of 2.1%. Local hotels hosted more than 10 million overnight guests in total last year, which account for 73% of overnight-stay visitors in Macau with an increase of 0.4%. Overnight-stay visitor' average length of stay throughout last year stood at 1.9 days, same as 2013. The visitor expenditure between last January and September totaled US$39.7 billion, a period-on-period growth of 0.7%. In terms of hotel industry, the average occupancy rate of hotels in Macau in 2014 was 86.5%, up by 3.4 year-on-year. The average room rate of three to five star hotels was US$199.9, up by 8.6%. Over 12 million visitors came to Macau in group tours last year, a year-on-year growth of 26%. There are 103 hotels in Macau up to date, together supplying 28,892 rooms in total, of which, there are 46 budget accommodation establishments providing 1,500 rooms. MGTO's Tourist Information counters handled or received over 1.15 million visitor enquiries, material requests and suggestions last year. Concerning measures against illegal accommodation, the interdepartmental task force inspected over 1,200 apartment-times and sealed 153 apartments throughout the year; MGTO initiated sanction procedures against 68 providers of accommodation, 13 touters and 2 dwellers who did not comply with the duty of cooperation. Last year over 4,300 participant-times joined the industry training courses and workshops which were supported or facilitated by MGTO. The Office recruited 28 new staff members in 2014. A total of 393 employees are in service up to date. MGTO aims at five work focuses Director Senna Fernandes indicated that in order to fulfill Macau's strategic positioning as a "World Centre of Tourism and Leisure", MGTO will continue to dedicate effort in scientific planning, destination marketing, product development, service enhancement as well as reinforcement of international and regional cooperation to develop Macau tourism in the direction of this strategic positioning. MGTO targets five focal points at work this year: 1. Promote tourism planning and study, conduct research on specific tourism topics; 2. Strive for service quality enhancement, strengthen industry supervision and training; 3. Launch new tourism products, organize festive events; 4. Organize series of promotional activities, enhance Macau's diverse tourism image; 5. Active participation in international organizations, strengthen regional cooperation and development. She pointed out that MGTO will carry out the following tasks under the five focuses: 1. Promote tourism planning and study, conduct research on specific tourism topics: begin the formulation of the "Macau Tourism Industry Development Master Plan"; evaluate the effectiveness of mega events and festivals, and carry out source market studies; follow up with the optimization work of tourism environment and tourism signage continuously through inter-departmental work force, etc. 2. Strive for service quality enhancement, strengthen industry supervision and training: enhance modernization of administrative working procedures; optimize tourism-related regulations and licensing procedures; keep fighting against provision of illegal accommodation; foster quality and integrity tourism; continue to promote the "Tourism Awareness Campaign"; continue with the "Quality Tourism Services Accreditation Scheme"; develop an "Online Training Platform" for travel trade, etc. 3. Launch new tourism products, organize festive events: enhance the "Community Tourism Development Plan" while optimizing and launching new "Step Out, Experience Macau's Communities" walking tour routes; study the feasibility of launching innovative tourism products; implement the structural construction plan for Tourism Activities Centre (including Grand Prix Museum and Wine Museum); continue with various incentive schemes for tourism; foster business tourism development; continue to organize events and festivals, etc.
4. Organize series of promotional activities, enhance Macau's diverse tourism image: produce a brand-new tourism promotional video under the current promotional theme "Experience Macau"; set up a new Tourist Information counter at the new ferry terminal at Pac On in Taipa; foster smart tourism development and electronic marketing; promote multi-destination tourism products in cities along high-speed rail routes, etc. 5. Active participation in international organizations, strengthen regional cooperation and development: participate in meetings, seminars and training courses hosted by international tourism organizations; provide stronger support for Portuguese-speaking countries; strengthen tourism cooperation with the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region, Hong Kong, Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan and neighboring regions to open up joint tourism resources for multi-destination tours; follow up with the tourism-related work of the "Guangdong-Macau Cooperation Framework Agreement" and so on. Senna Fernandes remarked that the Office will start working on the "Macau Tourism Industry Development Master Plan" this year and devise an integrated scheme for the medium- and long-term development of Macau tourism industry. MGTO will make continuous effort to diversify Macau's tourism products and markets while developing tourism elements enriched with local charm. The Office also plans to stage 3D mapping shows in different local districts to make nighttime tours more colorful in Macau.
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The Government would continue to support the United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology, in the institution's bids to promote education quality for better talents cultivation mechanism, the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, said. To follow the policy principles of "letting Macao thrive through education" and "building Macao with talented individuals", the Government would continue to put various resources into enhance academic competitiveness of local education institutes and train more qualified personnel for the needs of development, he said. Speaking in a meeting at the Government Headquarters on 19 January with the Rector of the United Nations University and the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dr David Malone, Mr Chui said the Institute's work on higher education and scientific research were widely recognised Dr Malone, who was in Macao on an official visit, thanked the Government for the continuous support and the provision of existing facilities, and introduced the newly-appointed director of the Institute, Dr Michael L. Best, to Mr Chui. Dr Malone said the Government was visionary, recognising the work on boosting economic development while enhancing education quality. Officials also at the meeting were Director of Administration of the United Nations University, Dr Francois D´Artagnan, and Chief-of-Office of the Chief Executive's Office, Ms O Lam. The United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology, established in 1992, is a research and training centre based in Macao.
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The Government would spare no effort in striving to find new sources for tourists, stabilise the growth of international visitors and make them stay longer, said the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On. In the annual meeting at Government Headquarters with marketing representatives of the Macao Government Tourist Office on 19 January to review the tourism situations and plan ahead for the coming year, Mr Chui said the strategies were to enhance Macao's international positioning, promote tourism products in various media networks and introduce special tours to attract different markets. The Government would also take effective measures to promote quality and integrated tourism, and strengthen regional co-operation in developing multi-destination tourism routes to fulfil its position as a world centre for tourism and leisure, and a commercial and trade co-operation service platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries. Last year saw an increase in the number of visitors despite the gaming sector having experienced a downward adjustment, he said, reflecting a successful beginning in the development of non-gaming attractions. Officials who also attended the meeting included Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Mr Tam Chon Weng, and Chief of his office, Mr Lai Ieng Kit; Chief-of-Office of the Chief Executive's Office, Ms O Lam; Director of the Macao Government Tourist Office, Ms Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, and Deputy Director Ms Tse Heng Sai and Mr Cheng Wai Tong, together with other 17 market representatives stationed aboard.
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