News

The fireworks show schedule of the 26th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest on 20 September has been revised. The schedule is updated as follow for audience's kind attention: 20 September
21:00 – Daehan Fireworks Co from Korea
21:30 – Surex - Family Company Ryszard Suzdalewicz from Poland
22:00 – Mirnovec Pirotehnika d.o.o. from Croatia The latest contest program is uploaded onto MGTO's website: http://fireworks.macautourism.gov.mo
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Macao Prison's website will have an all-round update on 22 September night. The new layout will appear in different regions at different times. All updates are estimated to be completed by the early morning of 23 September. As the new website goes into service, citizens will find it more convenient to obtain information about the Prison.
The new website of the Prison will have a brand-new layout that is concise and clear. All existing available information will be retained, and there will be a new interactive feature, "Learn More about the Work of Prison Guards", to educate citizens on the mission and the working conditions of prison guards by lively and easy-to-understand animations.
The Macao Prison website's address www.epm.gov.mo will remain unchanged. The website update will be conducted between the night of 22 September and the early hours of 23 September. During the said transition period, the new version will be made available in accordance with the update schedules of servers in different regions, and login error or failed login could occur. We apologize for any inconvenience that may cause by the loading problems and errors. Macao Prison will continue its efforts on enhancing its website and providing latest information for citizens in a timely manner. Should you have any queries, please contact prison staff by phone at 88961280 or 88961283.
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Following the exhibition "Maritime Porcelain Road – Relics from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao", the Department of Culture of Guangdong Province, the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong S.A.R. Government and the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government (IC, from the Portuguese acronym) organize once again an itinerant exhibition titled "Historical Imprints of Lingnan: Major Archaeological Discoveries of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao", thereby making known the successes of the archaeological works held in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao as well as showing the results of the three regions' joint efforts within the context of the cultural cooperation meetings. The exhibition will be held at the Guangdong Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of History and the Macao Museum. The opening ceremony of the exhibition at the Macao Museum will take place on 25 September, Thursday, at 6pm, at the Museum lobby, and the exhibition will run from 26 September until 11 January, 2015, on the 3rd floor. This exhibition displays more than four hundred archaeological artefacts from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, from the Stone and Bronze Ages, going through the Qin Dynasty and the era of the Southern Han Kingdom, up to the Song and Ming Dynasties, allowing visitors to get a better understanding of the glorious civilizational history of the Lingnan region. The first part, about the Stone Age, presents objects unearthed in Lingnan's archaeological sites, namely stone and bone – locally easily accessible materials– handmade tools and ceramic pieces used in daily life. The region's inhabitants subsisted on gathering food, hunting and fishing, having a rich maritime culture lifestyle, an example of which can be found in Macao, at the Hac Sa archaeological site in Coloane. During the Bronze Age, although Lingnan was not under the rule of the Central Plains rulers, the excavated bronze items displayed at the exhibition show traces of cultural influences from those areas, which suggests that the technology for making bronze tools had already reached the region. The third part of the exhibition relates to the dispatch of troops and the conquest of Lingnan by the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty in 214 BC, who subsequently divided the region into three sections – Nanhai, Guilin and Xiang – ruled through a centralized authoritarian system. From then on and until the era of the Southern Han Kingdom, the social, cultural and external trade development of the Lingnan region witnesses unprecedented growth. The fourth and last part of the exhibition concerns the Song and Ming Dynasties, mainly presenting porcelain objects discovered in the three regions. With the discovery of various kilns, wrecked ships and archaeological land sites dated from the Song Dynasty, a large quantity of export porcelain objects were found, which bear witness to the prosperity and development of maritime transportation and trade in the South China Sea. Macao was, at the time, an important transit port in the porcelain maritime route, revealing the significant role played by the Lingnan region in the commercial exchange between China and the West. During the exhibition period, the Macao Museum organizes three lectures, two in Cantonese and one in Mandarin: "Main Achievements and Characteristics of Lingnan's Archaeological Excavations" (in Cantonese), having as guest speaker the Director of the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Chau Hing Wah; "Reconstructing Lingnan's Ancient History – Guangdong's Great Archaeological Discoveries" (in Mandarin), led by the Director of the Guangdong Museum, Wei Jun; and "Macao's Recent Archaeological Works and Its Results" (in Cantonese), counting on the Head of IC's Cultural Heritage Department, substitute, Chio Ut Hong, as main speaker. Lectures will take place on 27 September, 8 November and 6 December (Saturdays), respectively, from 3pm to 6pm, at the Macao Museum Conference Hall, and are open to the public. For reservations, please call Ms. Lei on 8394 1231 during office hours. In addition to the lectures, a replica of an archaeological site and multimedia guided tour devices will be displayed and available in the educational area, on the 3rd floor of the Museum, allowing visitors to experience this kind of work in more detail as well as grasp the results achieved in the past years in terms of archaeological exploration technology and archaeological heritage protection in the Lingnan region. The Macao Museum is open daily from 10am to 6pm (ticket counters close at 5.30pm). In order to make the necessary arrangements for the exhibition's opening ceremony, the Museum will exceptionally close at 4pm on 25 September. For more information on this exhibition and other activities, please call 2835 7911 during office hours or access the websites www.macaumuseum.gov.mo or www.icm.gov.mo.
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The opening ceremony for the 24th annual meeting of the Association of Portuguese Speaking Universities (Associação das Universidades de Lrngua Portuguesa, AULP) was held on the University of Macau's (UM) new campus today (17 September). Over 200 AULP members from Portuguese-speaking countries and regions attended the opening ceremony. Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of Macao SAR Cheong U noted that the SAR government would continue to support the AULP and would continue to promote exchange and cooperation between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries in various areas. This is the fifth time that the AULP's annual meeting has been held in Macao. This year's annual meeting was co-organised by UM, Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM), and the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), and received sponsorship and support from the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture of Macao SAR, Macao Foundation, the Macau Government Tourist Office, and the Consulate General of Portugal in Macau. Officiating guests at the opening ceremony included Cheong U, secretary for social affairs and culture of Macao SAR; Prof Jorge Ferrão, chairman of the AULP and rector of the Universidade Lúrio, Mozambique; Prof Wei Zhao, rector of UM; Prof Lei Heong Iok, president of IPM; Dr Fanny Vong, president of IFT; Dr Wu Zhiliang, president of the Administrative Committee of Macao Foundation; and Maria Helena, director of the Macau Government Tourist Office.
Secretary Cheong U noted that Macao had hosted four previous annual meetings of the AULP, and every meeting had been very fruitful, which is testament to the close collaboration between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries. He added that the SAR government would continue to support the AULP and would continue to promote cooperation between Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries in various areas. He believes this year's meeting will play a positive role in promoting the development of tourism industries in Macao and Portuguese-speaking countries. Rector Wei Zhao said in his speech that although higher education institutions in Macao are relatively young, they have fostered a solid foundation which allowed them to launch various academic programmes and carry out extensive international collaborations. He added that several weeks earlier UM started the new academic year on the new campus, which signalled that higher education in Macao entered a new stage of development, so in this sense the new campus has special significance for higher education development both locally and internationally. Prof Jorge Ferrão thanked Macao for providing good conditions for this year's annual meeting. He noted that the Chinese language has more native speakers than any other language in the world, and the Portuguese language is also a much-used language, by about 250 million people worldwide; both languages play a very important role in promoting the development of political, economic, trade and cultural relations between nations as well as in the development of the tourism industry. Minister of Education and Science of Portugal Prof Nuno Crato, and Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil Prof Clélio Campolina Diniz, who were unable to attend the annual meeting in person, sent their good wishes through video clips. This year's annual meeting started with the plenary meeting of the AULP and the meeting of the AULP's Administrative Council, followed by roundtable sessions on four topics, namely "Networks of Higher Education", "Portuguese, a language with future?", "Language Propagation and Tourist & Commercial Promotion", and "From Internationalization to Integration". Invited speakers included Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of Cape Verde Dr António Correia e Silva, and Secretary of State of Science and Technology of Angola Prof João Sebastião Teta. 32 papers which were selected from this year's submissions were presented at the meeting. Towards the end of the meeting, the Fernão Mendes Pinto Award was presented to authors of the three best PhD dissertations in Portuguese-speaking countries for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013. The AULP is an international academic organisation. Its members come from more than 200 higher education institutions in different countries and regions, including Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, and Macao. Institutions that enjoy provisional membership status include Portuguese departments at universities in the United States, France and Italy. Currently there six institutions in Macao that are AULP members. They are UM, IPM, IFT, the International Institute of Macau, the University of Saint Joseph, and the Asia International Open University (Macau).
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) has formed a delegation of local travel trade to jointly visit Beijing and promote Macau as an incentive and business travel destination in the "The China Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition" (CIBTM). Through participating in the event, the Office facilitates networking and cooperation between Macau and Mainland trade partners to create new business opportunities. As an event co-organized by China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, CIBTM 2014 is held in China National Convention Centre in Beijing on 17 – 19 September. MGTO participates in the exhibition along with delegates who represent 19 enterprises including hotels, resorts, convention & exhibition companies, travel agencies, entertainment businesses as well as ferry companies and airlines from Macau. The key program this year comprises China Meetings Week, professional education forums, seminars, opening ceremony, networking functions, welcome dinner and so forth. MGTO promotes Macau among incentive travel organizers and presents the destination's latest business tourism trends and products to industry buyers in the event. In recent years, MGTO has sought to encourage different types of visitors, entities and enterprises to choose Macau as their incentive and business travel destination through its "Incentive Travel Stimulation Program". From January to August 2014, MGTO has received a total of nine subsidy applications from the Mainland which involved over 32,000 participants. According to the Statistics and Census Service, a total of 503 MICE events were held in Macau in the first half of this year. The number of attendees sums to 827,000. CIBTM is recognized as one of China's largest and most well-established professional exhibitions for the meetings and incentive travel industry. For the past few years in a row, MGTO has participated in the event and leveraged this valuable platform to develop a nice communication and business network between Macau and Mainland trade partners, and thus enhanced local trade's cooperation with their counterparts from the Mainland. 5,300 professionals are attending the exhibition this year including over 449 exhibitors and 424 hosted buyers.
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Given the recent security situation in the Philippines, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a travel security alert to Chinese citizens that reads as follows: "The Philippine police recently confirmed that a criminal gang planned to attack the Chinese Embassy, institutions of Chinese investment, Philippine shopping malls and other public facilities.
In view of the worsening security situation in the Philippines, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminds Chinese citizens not to travel during this recent period to the Philippines; Chinese citizens and Chinese institutions in the Philippines should raise their risk awareness.
In case of emergency, please report immediately to the Philippine police, and contact the Chinese Embassy and consulates in the Philippines for assistance. Consular Assistance and Protection hotline of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines
Tel: 0063-9178972695 Consular Assistance and Protection hotline of the Consulate General of China in Cebu
Tel: 0063-9175495614 Consular Assistance and Protection hotline of the Chinese Consulate in Laoag
Tel: 0063-9178051226" The Tourism Crisis Management Office (GGCT) alerts Macao residents not to travel to the Philippines during this recent period.
From information gathered through the Macao travel industry, there is no Macao tour group currently in the Philippines. The Tourism Crisis Management Office received, up to the present moment, one enquiry but no requests for assistance. If necessary, Macao residents can call the 24-hour Tourism Hotline (853) 2833 3000 or contact the Chinese Embassy and consulates for assistance.
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In the first half-year of 2014, a total of 250 applications for temporary residency for managerial personnel, technical and professional qualification holders were received by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) (a decrease of 39 compared with the same period last year), 47 applications for major investment / investment plans (an increase of 1 compared with the same period last year), representing 84.18% and 15.82% of the total of 297 new applications in the first half-year of 2014. Approved cases for managerial personnel, technical and professional qualification holders amounted to 121 (a decrease of 17 compared with the same period last year), approved applications for major investment / investment plans totalled 29 (an increase of 9 compared with the same period last year). In accordance with the Administrative Regulation No. 7/2007, temporary residency applications for fixed asset purchases have been suspended since 4 April 2007. There were over 4,000 applications lodged before the closing date of the policy and are still being processed. Statistics of Investment Residency Applications and the Cases and Number of Beneficiaries in the First Half-Year of 2014 (* please find the attached file) For further enquiries on the residency application guidelines, please contact IPIM by visiting the website: www.ipim.gov.mo, email: gjfr@ipim.gov.mo, tel: 28712055 or fax: 28713950. Applicants may also visit the website and enquire about the progress of their residency application status online.
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Consumer Council conducted its fourth 'Supermarket price survey' in September on 15 September for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included supermarkets near Horte e Costa, Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga and Rua da Emenda areas in Santo António Parish. 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 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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According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, new approvals of residential mortgage loans (RMLs) decreased month-to-month in July 2014 whereas commercial real estate loans (CRELs) increased. With regard to outstanding balance, RMLs and CRELs both witnessed increases. New lending approved In July 2014, new RMLs approved by Macao banks dropped 40.0% month-to-month to MOP5.5 billion; of which, 97.8% was extended to residents. In terms of value, new RMLs to residents and non-residents decreased 22.3% and 94.7% respectively. When compared with the same period of 2013, new approvals of RMLs witnessed increase of 23.6%. New RMLs collateralised by uncompleted units (i.e. equitable mortgage) decreased by 60.6% month-to-month to MOP1.1 billion. The equitable mortgage extended to residents, which accounted for 96.0% of the total, increased 58.1%. Attributable to the lower base for comparison after the implementation of the Legal Regime for Title Transfer of Buildings Under Construction in June 2013, new RMLs collateralised by uncompleted units expanded year-on-year by 3,116.7%. New CRELs increased by 60.5% month-to-month to MOP17.5 billion; of which, 88.2% was granted to residents. In terms of value, new CRELs to residents and non-residents increased 43.0% and 1,838.5% respectively. The surge of CRELs to non-residents was mainly driven by loans approved for the development of some large-scale tourism-related projects. On an annual basis, new approvals of CRELs grew by 580.3%. Outstanding balances As at end-July 2014, the outstanding value of RMLs reached MOP140.8 billion, an increase of 2.2% from one month earlier or 29.9% from a year ago. The resident component made up 94.1% of the total. Compared to end-June 2014, outstanding RMLs to residents and non-residents grew 2.3% and 0.4% respectively. Concurrently, the outstanding value of CRELs increased 5.7% from end-June 2014 and was up 43.4% from end-July 2013 to MOP111.1 billion. Residents accounted for 90.7% of the loans. Compared with one month earlier, outstanding CRELs to residents and non-residents grew 4.2% and 23.5% respectively. Delinquency ratios At the end of July 2014, the delinquency ratio for RMLs remained virtually unchanged at 0.06% or increased by 0.01 percentage point from a year ago. The ratio for CRELs decreased to 0.07%, down 0.01 percentage point from a month ago and from end-July 2013. Annex 16 September 2014 Detailed figures on Mortgage Loans Statistics are available on: http://www.amcm.gov.mo/economic_statistics/economic.htm.
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Macao Ideas - the Macao branded products display centre of Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), currently located on the ground-floor of the Tourism Activities Centre ("CAT"), will move to the Macao Business Support Centre on the 19 floor of China Civil Plaza, 263, Alameda Dr. Carlos d'Assumpcao, Macao. The exhibits will be displayed in the new venue from 1 October. Macao Ideas - has been promoting Products Made in Macao, Macao Brands, Macao Design and Sole distributorship of Portuguese Speaking Countries products since 9 May 2011. The numbers of exhibitors has increased from 80 to the current 110 and 600 exhibits to more than 1,000 since its opening. The product categories include garments, wedding gowns and evening dresses, jewellery, food, wine, medical products, furniture, industrial supplies, IT products, cultural and creative design products and handicrafts. With the rapid development of SMEs information technology and e-commerce, Macao Ideas will also follow the trend and computerise its service, as well as promote the centre and its exhibits through varies digital media to build up brand awareness and explore more business opportunities for its exhibitors. Such as the Macao Ideas Wechat account has been set up recently (Id number: gh_00ca43f93002) to allow for the most up-to-date on and offers on Macao's different branded products, interesting business stories to be released regularly and swiftly. Besides getting more information on the centre, follow Macao Ideas on Wechat now can receive a free gift. Other digital media promotions including EDM for procurement agents, banner advertisement placement on the international sourcing website and electronic magazine to introduce the individual exhibitors of the centre will be updated on a regular basis. Moreover, IPIM takes products currently on display in "Macao Ideas" to different Mainland, local and overseas exhibitions with an aim of promoting Macao Ideas and its exhibitors and exploring more opportunities for exhibitors in overseas markets. Macao Ideas - the promotional platform for local enterprises to introduce their products to overseas market. For more information, please visit the centre or our website http://macaoideas.ipim.gov.mo. Macao Ideas
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm
Address: 1). 263, Alameda Dr. Carlos d'Assumpcao, 19th floor, China Civil Plaza Bldg, Macao. (From 1 October 2014) 2). Centro de Actividades Turisticas, 431, Rua Luis Gonzaga Gomes, Macao (Until 30 September 2014) Tel: 853 2870 0620 / 28702123 / 2870 2021
Fax: 853 2870 0621
Email: macaoideas@ipim.gov.mo
Website: http://macaoideas.ipim.gov.mo
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