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After years of development, MIECF has become a high-level and efficient international networking platform, attracting every year a great number of exhibitors and buyers, showcasing the latest environmentally friendly products and services. Furthermore, MIECF also creates co-operation opportunities for both local and overseas enterprises, and offers unlimited business opportunities. The Green Showcase this year has attracted the participation of over 450 exhibitors from more than 22 countries and regions. The provinces and regions in the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region (known as “9+2”) continue to participate and set up their own exhibition zone. The Themed Pavilion and the Countries/Regions Pavilions included the Ministry of Science and Technology´s Exhibition Area, Pan-PRD Region´s Exhibition Zone, Macao´s Exhibition Zone, International Exhibition Zone, Europe Pavilion, USA Pavilion and the VIP Exhibition Zone. Organisations and enterprises from Portuguese-speaking countries like Portugal and Brazil also participate in this year’s event again. Mr Chan, from a building materials company, said that his company is participating for the second consecutive year. He participated for the first time last year with no related experience and established contacts with other companies through the Green Showcase, Green Matching and Green Forum. After that, his company became the first construction company engaging in house building in Mozambique. The government of Mozambique attaches great importance to the use of environmentally friendly construction materials, he said. Because of this, his company seeks co-operation opportunities with suppliers of green construction products. Mr. Chan stressed that, after a year of continuous efforts, his company has found two green construction materials brands from Mainland China and that the respective co-operation agreements were signed at this year´s MIECF, and become the sole agent for these two brands in Macao, Africa and the Portuguese-speaking countries. Products of the afore-mentioned companies will be used in the Mozambique construction projects, he said. According to Mr Chan, his company has two construction projects in Mozambique. One of which, the construction of a resort, is already under way, while the other one is a residential complex with fifty thousand apartments. Being the agent of the products, he said that the local government attaches great importance to the green construction materials used, and that the products are very suitable for the market in terms of price and quality. Therefore, he is quite happy to be the agent for the said brands. Mr Chan is pleased that his participation in last year´s MIECF contributed to his company´s co-operation with Mainland China´s brands and stated that Macao´s exhibitions, such as MIECF and the Macao International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF) play an important role in assisting local enterprises to go global. He said that environmentally friendly building materials are the trend of future development and that there is a great demand for these materials in the Third World Countries. After the completion of the projects in Mozambique, he would consider East Timor as the location for the next project, given that it is a new nation and the only Portuguese-speaking country in Asia. The development of that country will require a great quantity of green building materials in the future, he stressed. On the other hand, another exhibitor is a consultant company providing indoor air quality testing and certification services for buildings. According to the persons in charge of that company, Ms Choi, Mr Leong and Mr Lau, their company provides a series of consulting and certification services, including design, on-site monitoring, laboratory design, energy date analysis, monitoring and assessment and green building certification. They pointed out that all businesses expect return on their investment and that it is quite difficult to quantify the investment in indoor air quality, given that good air quality creates healthy and comfortable working environment to protect the health of the employees. Therefore, it is difficult to calculate the return in terms of money. However, some countries or regions provide certain preferential treatments to green buildings. For example, in Hong Kong, buildings which fulfil specific environmental guidelines may be exempted from the calculation of the gross floor area of certain areas. In Mainland China, buildings that reach certain environmental standards can also enjoy tax incentives. All these are incentives provided to developers for building green buildings, and also the market that their company is providing services in. The company has obtained the certification qualifications from the Hong Kong Accreditation Service. Their company can test and provide certification for indoor air quality equipment and that the certificates issued by their company are recognised worldwide. Such certificates are valid for one year, to ensure that the party concerned could maintain the indoor air quality. They said that the main objective of their participation in MIECF is to enable more people to know about their company, and, in turn, they could also get a better understanding of the market situation, this being their biggest accomplishment. They believe that through the participation in MIECF, they could establish contacts with other companies and organization, to explore business opportunities. In addition, a “Green Building Industry Networking Session” was held, to provide an opportunity for construction industry to exchange information about the latest technologies, and to explore business opportunities.
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On the second day of the 2015 Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition (2015MIECF), four sessions and one seminar were held at the Green Forum. Participants delivered speeches and discussed about issues relating to air quality and agreed that the Green Forum has satisfactorily performed its function of exploring issues of air quality around the world. The themes of the sessions held today included “Strategizing Climate Change Mitigation- Innovation in Policy and Technology”, “Clean Urban Air – lessons Learnt and Future Trajectories”, “Special Interview Session with Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland” and “Air Pollution Prevention Policies and Treatment Technology in the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region Roundtable Discussion”. At the “Clean Urban Air – Lessons Learnt and Future Trajectories” Session, several success stories of cities setting good air quality standards were presented and discussions were made on the key factors that reduce air pollution and emissions without compromising economic growth. Professor Hao Jiming, Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Dean of the Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tsinghua University (China) delivered his keynote speech, to introduce the works done by China in treating air pollution. Professor Li Jinhui, Professor of School of Environment, Tsinghua University (China) was the moderator of this session. Other speakers included Mr. Feng Bo, Division Director, Department of Science, Technology and Standards, Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People´s Republic of China; Dr. Liu Wenqing, Director, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering (China); Mr. Elliot Treharne, Air Quality Manager, Great London Authority (United Kingdom); Mr. Dave Ho Tak Yin, Principal Environmental Protection Officer (Air Policy), Environmental Protection Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government (Hong Kong, China); Dr. Jason Blake Cohen, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore (Singapore). Professor Hao Jiming said that it is necessary to introduce revolution in energy consumption, in order to reduce irrational consumption of energy; promote revolution in energy supply, in order to create diversified energy supply systems; promote energy technology revolution, to motivate the upgrade of the industry; promote revolution in the power system, in order to open-up supply channels. At the same time, it is also necessary to promote the prevention and treatment of mobile sources of pollution, given that pollution generated by vehicles is one of the challenges that China must face. It is also necessary to deal with non-road mobile pollution, he added. According to Professor Hao Jiming, promoting the study on the impacts of air pollution on human health will become the major drive for improving air quality and reducing pollution. Therefore it is necessary to improve the accuracy, reliability and openness of the roadside monitoring stations, aim at increasing the capacity in scientific authentication and decision-making by means of various approaches such as technology development and reduction of emissions at source. To control pollution, it is necessary to establish goals for environmental quality, as well as continuous and gradual efforts. He stressed that this is the only way that we can expect any improvement in air quality. Mr. Yu Jixin, Secretary, ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee Secretariat (Macao, China) was the moderator for the “Strategizing Climate Change Mitigation – Innovation in Policy and Technology” Session. Speakers included Mr. Li Junfeng, Director, National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation of the People´s Republic of China; Ms. Ana Teresa Perez, member of the Governing Council, Portuguese Environment Agency, Public Institute (Portugal); Mr. Fong Soi Kun, Director, Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (Macau, China(); Mr. Zhang Feng, Deputy Director of Policy Research Office, Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau (china), Mr. Stefan M. Better, Senior Policy Advisor, International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (France); Professor Gao Xiang, Vice President of Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University (China) and Mr. Jeff Swartz, International Policy Director, International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) (Switzerland). The participants reviewed the various strategies to slow down climate change, including the promotion of technology innovation, technology transfer, as well as supporting policies and strategies; identifying the systematic impact of adopting emission reduction policies; nurturing favourable conditions to transform the concern for the emission-reduction into sustainable development strategies. The participants remarked that Macao needs to further extend and strengthen the monitoring of climate change and the collection of the respective data, so as to create a comprehensive database to serves as a reliable and comprehensive source of information for the preparation of reports, research projects as well as the formulation of future policies. At the same time, with regard to Macao´s vulnerabilities, participants proposed the adoption of scientific strategies to address climate change, with regular evaluation and timely adjustments and improvements. Also, it is necessary to improve the current natural disaster warning system and the mechanism for handling emergencies, in order to cope with more extreme and severe weather incidents and water scarcity which could be caused by climate change. It is also suggested to incorporate the impacts and strategies for tackling climate change into the economic and social development plan, so as to enhance the city’s overall capacity in tackling climate change. Dr. Zhao Wei, Rector of the University of Macau, was the moderator at the Special Interview Session with Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Former Prime Minister of Norway, Chairman of the World Commission on Environmental and development (the “Brundtland Commission”, Special UN Envoy on Climate Change and Former Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO), generally recognized as the “Mother” of sustainable development. Dr. Brundtland stressed that climate change around the world is constantly undergoing changes and that the problems are becoming increasingly challenging. Under this circumstance, it is necessary that all countries fulfil their own responsibilities, to reach a consensus and establish objectives, stressing that problems could only be solved with the concerted efforts of everyone. During the two-day Forum, six sessions and one seminar were held. Over 50 specialists in environmental protection, leaders of multi-national companies in the environmental industry and regional policy-makers from China, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Macao, China delivered speeches on the hot topic of “air quality”. According to the participants, the Green Forum played an important role in exploring the various issues related to air quality around the world.
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The Green Public Day, which will take place tomorrow, on the last day of the 2015 Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition (2015MIECF), will be held under the theme “Waste Reduction at Source Starts with Me”. It is open to the public and admission is free. By means of family activities, environmental-themed performances and magic shows, the Green Public Day aims to enhance environmental awareness and encourage the public to practise waste reduction at source. 2015MIECF aims to promote the concept of “Thinking Green, Going Clean, Living Cool”. Based on the theme of this year´s Green Public Day “Waste Reduction at Source Starts with Me”, a series of families activities related to environmental protection will be organised, in addition, there are workshops, games booths, stage performances and magic shows. An exhibition of the paintings of the winners of the “I´ve Got Solutions for Reducing Plastic Use” creative paintings competition will be held, to encourage the practise of reducing the use of plastic materials. Green Living Station will continue to display and sell all types of environmentally friendly products, to promote green consumption. Furthermore, visitors who have collected the stamps of the four mascot of the Environmental Protection Bureau, namely, “Mr. Earth”, “Mrs. Tree”, “Brother Cloud” and “Sister Flower” at the Green Stations in the exhibition revenue, will have a chance to redeem a variety of exquisite environmental gifts from the Environmental Protection Bureau. The four mascots will also show up at the venue for photo taking sessions with the public, so that everyone will be able to spend a pleasant green weekend. To encourage everyone to jointly participate in the development of a green city, live plants will be distributed to the public at the end of the event, so that they could continue the green concept. There will also be lucky draws and the winners will have the opportunity to receive a special edition electronic stored-value cards (with a value of MOP50.00), designed by the Environmental Protection Bureau with slogans to encourage green consumption and green transportation. At the exhibition venue, there is a booth for the public to apply as member of “Eco Fun – Waste Separation, it´s a Lot of Fun”. New members will immediately get 50 points, and existing members participating in the Green Public Day activities will also receive a bonus of 50 points (limited to local residents and each member is only eligible for one prize). Green Public Day is an ideal platform to promote the concept of environmental protection to Macao´s students, to enhance their environmental awareness, promote the principles of MIECF and encourage them to be more aware of the importance of caring for the environment. In this connection, the Organiser will provide on-site green guided tours to schools registered for this service. The Choir of the Luso-Chinese Vocational-Technical School will perform and sing environmental-themed songs. Through the songs lyrics, the teachers and students aim to disseminate environmentally-friendly attitudes and behaviours, bearing in mind that “Waste Reduction at Source Starts with Me”. A total of 10 schools and approximately 500 students have registered for the guided tour include Lingnan Middle School, Colégio Santa Rosa de Lima (English Secondary Section), Secondary Section of Escola Xin Hua, Primary Section of Escola Choi Non Chi Tai, Hou Kong Middle School, Premier School Affiliated to Hou Kong Middle School, Escola Nossa Senhora de Fátima (Primary Section) and Luso-Chinese Vocational- Technical School,. For the first time, civil servants are organised by the department responsible for welfare services under the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau to visit the MIECF venue. To facilitate public access to the venue and promote green transportation, four shuttle bus routes will be provided on the Green Public Day, with departures from Avenida Doutor Mário Saores (Macau Square), Avenida Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida (Pak Wai Public Car Park) and Estrada Marginal do Hipódromo (near Royal Supermarket). There is a new pick-up point at Rua de Guimarães, Taipa (Central Park, in front of Nova Park Building) to and from the exhibition venue (Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel). For further information, please visit the official website – wwww.macaomiecf.com. Furthermore, free parking will also be available at Hall D of Venetian Macao-Resort (from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.), on a first come, first served basis. All are welcome to visit MIECF, along with relatives and friends.
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The Government will press ahead on Guangzhou-Macao co-operation over the pilot schemes under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and development of free trade in Nansha district, the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, said today. The pilot schemes in Nansha include facilitated travel for pleasure crafts, construction of a cruise terminal, a training base for tourism and development of cultural and creative industries. Leading a delegation to Hainian province in advance of tomorrow’s opening of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2015, Mr Chui had met with the Secretary of the Guangzhou Communist Party of China Municipal Committee, Mr Ren Xuefeng. The Government is pleased to share its experience in service industries and to work closely with the Guangzhou government in exploring more opportunities in the Portuguese-speaking countries, he said. Under the country’s development blueprint, the Government would join hands with the Guangdong government in more innovative structural reforms. Mr Chui thanked the Central Government for enabling Macao to participate in projects in the free trade zone in Guangdong, which comprises two sections – Hengqin in Zhuhai and Nansha in Guangzhou. Mr Chui said he was pleased to meet with Mr Ren at the Forum, to explore more co-operation opportunities with Guangzhou. Mr Ren said he hoped co-operation in tourism would be strengthened through the development of free trade zone and Macao’s commercial and trade co-operation service platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, adding that Macao’s position in tourism was irreplaceable. Officials who also attended the meeting were Chief-of-Office of the Chief Executive’s Office Ms O Lam, Director of the Government Information Bureau Mr Chan Chi Ping, Director of the Protocol, Public Relations and External Affairs Office Mr Fung Sio Weng; Member of the Standing Committee and Secretary-general of the CPC Guangzhou Provincial Committee Mr Chen Guo, Vice Mayor Mr Luo Weifeng, Director General of the Bureau of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of Guangzhou Municipality Mr Xiao Zhenyu, and Director General of Foreign Affairs Office of Guangzhou Mr Liu Baochun.
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To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), IFT has the honour to invite Mr. Cai Guo Jie, renowned local artist, to exhibit his paintings created under the theme “Macao Typical Architecture”, allowing the public to have an opportunity to appreciate from a different perspective, the buildings that have been surrounding us. IFT has devoted a lot of effort to promote and develop cultural and creative industries. In addition to providing diversified courses, in 2015, the Institute organised a course series entitled “Macao Contemporary Artists Series”, and invited a number of renowned local artists including Lai Sio Kit, Cai Guo Jie and Denis Murrell to share their successful experiences with the students, inspiring the new generation to become talents in the cultural and creative areas. “Colouring along the City” is one of the courses under this series which is taught by Mr. Cai. The exhibition “The Language of Images of East and West – Exhbition of Creative Works by Cai Guo Jie” is based on Cai’s exploration of the local “East Meets West” cultural environment, after he moved to Macao in 2001, from Taiwan. During the process of painting, he blends all cultural elements that he cares for, to the unique buildings of Macao. The institute is keen on providing a platform to showcase art pieces of Macao artists and promote are enrichment to local communities. The exhibition takes place between 27 March and 5 July at the Educational Restaurant and the Team Building of IFT. All interested parties are welcome to pay a visit. To cope with Macao SAR Government’s policy to develop and promote creative industries, IFT started to offer short and fundamental courses in this area since 2011. IFT has continuously explored courses which are up-to-date, interesting and practical for the community. Today, courses in the areas of arts, design, multimedia production, souvenir production, etc. are running at IFT. Besides, the institute has been offering the Art Administration Programme for four years and has invited renowned professors from local and overseas as instructors, training up local professional in this field. IFT will continue offering more diversified cultural and creative courses to develop more local professional in this area.
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Green Business Co-operation Day took place today. As one of the key activities under MIECF, the event consists of two sessions of the Green Forum, as well as the Networking Cocktail Reception and Signing Ceremony. At the Networking Cocktail Reception and Signing Ceremony, agreements for 25 co-operation projects have been signed, involving environmental information exchange and technical co-operation, collaboration in environmental protection projects and agent of environmental products. At the same time, several green business exchange and matching sessions was held. With regards to the Green Showcase, a total of 450 exhibitors took part in showcasing their products and services. Different exhibition zones were set up to facilitate co-operation between the exhibitors and buyers, in their search for business opportunities. At one of the sessions of the Green Forum held under the Green Business Co-operation Day, participants discussed on how the business community could jointly create clean air. The participants believed that the society should reduce the use of natural resources and disposable resources, and efficiently recycle resources, to protect the environment and educate our next generation. One of the participants shared his experience of an energy company, pointing out that currently the market demands more advanced technology and methods to make use of renewable energy to reduce pollution. However, he considers that it is crucial that people increase their awareness in environmental protection, so that, while everyone put in a little more effort, we can make progress in improving the quality of air as well as the use of energy and create opportunities. At the session discussing the relationship between clean air and environmentally friendly transportation, the participants talked about the present situation of green transportation and the respective technical level and pointed out that environmental protection can effectively improve the exhaust emissions of the cars and therefore it is necessary to improve the respective car accessories in all aspects, to gradually promote and encourage wider use of environmentally friendly cars. The two sessions attracted over 360 participants. Green Business Co-operation Day has for many years invited guests from Mainland China (especially from the Pan-PRD region), Asia Pacific, Europe and the Portuguese-Speaking Countries, to share market dynamics and co-operation opportunities. At the Networking Cocktail Reception and Signing Ceremony, agreements of 25 co-operation projects were signed, involving co-operation in green transportation and technology, co-operation in environmental projects and agent of green products. The signing parties come from Macao, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Netherlands. Green matching and business negotiations were also conducted at the exhibition venue. Green Matching is a special service of MIECF to assist enterprises to promote their products and services and to seek co-operation opportunities. The hotel sourcing area was set up again this year, several well-known large hotels, including many local green hotels sent their staff to the venue to procure environmentally friendly products, including energy saving LED products, solar system equipment, air purifiers, sewage treatment equipment, electric vehicles, green cleaning products and waste recycling equipment. A number of government departments/public utilities/public schools also participated in the procurement negotiations. A large number of international well-known enterprises also sent staff to participate in the green matching, to discuss about co-operation in environmental technologies and seek investors and business partners. Green Showcase is an important part of MIECF. This year’s event was participated by more than 450 exhibitors from 22 countries and regions. The venue covers an area of approximately 16,900 square metres. The provinces and regions in the Pan-Pearl River Delta (generally known as “9+2”) continue to participate in the MIECF and set up their exhibition zones. The Thematic Pavilion and the Countries/Regions pavilions include the Exhibition Zone of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Pan-PRD Region Exhibition Area, the Macao Exhibition Area, the International Area, Europe Pavilion, USA Area, and VIP Exhibition Zone. Enterprises from Portugal and Brazil, which are both Portuguese-Speaking Countries, also continue to participate. There are 16 local and overseas renowned VIP exhibitors who showcased their products and services, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy-saving products, green building services, power management and electric vehicles. Buyers from the Pan-PRD Region and Southeast Asia were also invited to attend and hold green matching with the exhibitors. The Hosted Buyer Programme, which has been very efficient and is very popular among the exhibitors, continues to be available this year. Business matching and meetings are arranged for the buyers recommended by the exhibitors with the exhibitors, and help to enhance the efficiency and the professional standard of the event. The Green Matching between associations and chambers of commerce of the environmental industry, the networking cocktail of the environmental sector serve as a platform between associations of the environmental sector, chambers of commerce and trade promotion agencies. A Green Building Industry Networking Session is scheduled for tomorrow, to give an opportunity to the construction sector and relevant industries to exchange information about the current advanced technology and information, as well as to promote co-operation opportunities. The Macao SAR Government has launched the “Environmental Protection and Energy Saving Fund” and the “Environmentally Friendly Products Specifications Proposal”. Exhibitors could take this opportunity to know more about the two.
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The 2015 Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition (2015MIECF) was officially opened today. This year’s Green Forum consists of six sessions and one seminar. Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Former Prime Minister of Norway, former Chair of the World Commission on Environmental Development (WCED) (known as the “Brundtland Commission”), UN Special Envoy on Climate Change, Former Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), and generally recognised as the “Mother” of sustainable development, delivered her keynote speech this morning on how to face and resolve issues relating to climate change and energy, so as to ensure global sustainable development. According to Dr Brundtland, 2015 is a crucial year for global foresight and collaboration, putting to the test our ability in tackling the real danger of climate change, and to agree on the goal of sustainable development, these are our common responsibilities for the safety and well-being of our present and future generations. In fact all the parties involved are working together and eventually it will become a strength that impact on all, and show how new awareness will be shared across the world. She said that energy is crucial, for without energy, there is no development. Without sustainable energy, no sustainable development can be achieved. Dr Brundtland pointed out that, with a population of nearly 60 million, the Pearl River Delta region has been identified by the World Bank as the world’s largest urban area, in terms of its area and population. Development patterns in that region will indeed influence, not just the millions living there, but the impact will be on a larger, global scale, involving the future of man as well as its relationship with Planet Earth. According to an assessment carried out in January 2015, seven out of ten Chinese cities with the best air quality are located in the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) region, where Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong province are. Compared to a survey conducted in 2013, when the PPRD region was assessed as the most polluted region in the whole China, it shows that the air quality in the region has significantly improved. Dr Brundtland believes that in face of the pressing challenges, clear policies are needed. For instance, Macao needs to work towards its stated goal as a “green low carbon city”. Clean air and using renewable energy, reducing the use of coal are necessary. This is not just an issue on how to face climate changes, but above all to reduce harm to the public health. In order to bring all countries and peoples into an era of sustainable development and progress, while protecting Planet Earth, an approach with wide coverage and sustainability is needed, and to overcome poverty and safeguard dignity. Within which, improvement in sanitary conditions and education for all, are viable and acceptable alternatives. A Special Interview Session with Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland will be scheduled for tomorrow afternoon (27 March), to enable participants to know more about her insights, strategies and experience on the world´s environmental protection movement, green economy, climate change and sustainable tourism. The interview session will be moderated by Professor Zhao Wei, Rector of the University of Macau. A Q&A session will be held during which participants will have an opportunity to interact and exchange opinions with one of the world´s top environmentalists. On the other hand, two sessions of the Green Forum were held today, respectively, “The Business Case for Better Air Quality - Solutions for the Commercial and Industrial Sectors” and “Reviewing Air Quality and the Transportation Industry”. Several other sessions will be held tomorrow (27 March), under the following themes: “Strategizing Climate Change Mitigation – Innovation and Policy and Technology”, “Clean Urban Air – Lessons Learnt and Future Trajectories”, “Green Chemical Forum – Standardization Drives the Sustainable Development of Chemical Industry”, and the “Pan Pearl River Delta Region Session – Air Prevention Policies and Treatment Technology in the Pan-pearl River Delta Region Roundtable Discussion”. Session 3 - “Strategizing Climate Change Mitigation – Innovation in Policy and Technology”, will analyze various strategies to mitigate climate change, including: promoting innovation, technology transfer, supportive policies and strategies: demonstrating systemic impacts of mitigation policy options: and fostering enabling conditions to mainstream mitigation concerns into sustainable development. While Session 4 – “Clean Urban Air – Lessons Learnt and Future Trajectories”, will showcase various success stories of prominent megacities in making the standard for good air quality, and to discuss the key factors that reduced air pollution and emissions without compromising economic growth. Critical solutions in relations to the cross-boundary and environment factors will be discussed. The Carbon Forum Asia Workshop 2015, a concurrent event held during MIECF, is organised for the first time in Macao by the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA). On the first day of the two-day event, two workshops were held today under the themes “State & Trends of Carbon Pricing in Asia and Beyond” and “China´s National Carbon Market: Expectations and Outlook”. Top enterprises, representatives of the financial sector and government officers from Asia Pacific and the world were invited to interact and exchange their insights.
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The 2015 Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition (2015MIECF) takes place for three consecutive days starting from today. This year’s MIECF is held under the theme “Green Economy - Solutions for Clean Air”. Representatives from green enterprises and environmental industry, experts and academics from around the world joined in Macao to discuss current hot environmental issues. MIECF continues its role as a green platform, providing the opportunities and environment for promoting collaboration between operators of the environmental industry around the world and create business openings. The opening ceremony took place at 10:00 am this morning at the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel. Officiating guests included the Chief Executive of Macao SAR, Mr Chui Sai On, Deputy Director General of the Liaison Office of the Central People´s government in the Macao SAR, Mr. Yao Jin, Deputy Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People´s Republic of China in Macao SAR, Mr Pan Yundong, Vice Minister of Ministry of Science and Technology of the People´s Republic of China, Dr Zhang Laiwu, Vice-Governor of the People´s Government of Jiangxi Province, Mr Zheng Wei Wen, Executive Vice-Governor of the People´s Government of Hunan Province, Mr Chen Zhaoxiong, Vice-Governor of the People´s Government of Guangdong Province, Mr Xu Ruisheng, Vice President of the People´s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Mr Tang Renjian, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People´s Consultative Conference of Yunnan Province, Mr Wang Chengcai, Secretary for the Environment of Hong Kong SAR, Mr Wong Kam-Sing, Former Prime Minister of Norway, chaired the World Commission on the Environmental and Development (the “Brundtland Commission”), Special Envoy on Climate Change of the United Nations and Former Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director General of the Department of Science, Technology and Standards, Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People´s Republic of China, Mr Xiong Yuehui, representing the Minister of Environmental Protection of the People´s Republic of China, Mr. Chen Jining, the Deputy Director General of the Department of Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection, National Development and Reform Commission of the People´s Republic of China, Ms Ma Rong, representing the Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission of the People´s Republic of China, Mr Xu Shaoshi, Secretary for Economy and Finance of Macao SAR, Mr Leong Vai Tac, Secretary for Transport and Public Works of Macao SAR, Mr. Raimundo Arrais do Rosário, Deputy Secretary General of the People´s Government of Sichuan Province, Mr He Luzhang, Deputy Secretary General of the People´s Government of Guizhou Province, Mr Wu Qiang, Director-General of the Department of Ecology and Environment Protection of Hainan Province, Mr Deng Xiaogang and the Deputy Director-General of the Environmental Protection Department of Fujian Province, Mr Yu Pinghe. Speaking at the Opening Ceremony, the Chief Executive of Macao SAR, Mr Chui Sai On said that the government will strengthen urban air pollution control, and develop relevant measures to improve air quality, to be in line with the carbon dioxide reduction targets of our country. Mr Chui said that the government will continue to improve the quality of life of the citizens, with the objective of developing Macao as a World Tourism and Leisure Centre as well as a trade and economic co-operation service platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries. Mr Chui added that the Macao SAR Government will continue to deepen and promote regional environmental co-operation, especially collaboration with the Pan-PRD provinces/regions and co-operation between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries. In order to meet with the demands of the new era of environmental protection, the Government will nurture the service-oriented environmental industry, and through the building of a region with clean air, promote the construction of a low-carbon and liveable city. MIECF continues to offer international forums, exhibition, business matching and networking opportunities to the participants, to develop fully its role as a green platform designed to promote the development of the environmental industry and environmentally-friendly technologies. The Vice Minister of Ministry of Science and Technology of the People´s Republic of China, Dr Zhang Laiwu, Director General of Department of Science, Technology and Standards, Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People´s Republic of China, Mr Xiong Yuehui, and the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection, National Development and Reform Commission of the People´s Republic of China, Ms Ma Rong, gave keynote speeches at the Opening Ceremony. Vice Minister Dr Zhang Laiwu said that future of the environmental co-operation between Mainland China and Macao is promising, and that a lot of works have been done in the area of science and technology co-operation. He said that co-operation projects have been launched in the field of environmental protection, that such co-operations have already been institutionalized. He stressed that results have been achieved, particularly in the areas of transportation, environmental pollution, reduction of carbon emission, and electric car, and that the next step would be to carry out more works in the field of environmental protection. Mechanisms to maintain the said co-operation are already in place, he said. Mr. Xiong Yuehui pointed out that there will be growth in the environmental industry within the next five years and that it will become a new growth area for the economy. He said that the government will invest significantly in technical engineering and in energy efficient projects, to promote the development of the environmental industry. In her keynote address, Ms. Ma Rong said that it is necessary to accelerate and promote environmentally friendly construction, as environmental protection will be a new norm in China´s development process and a new pillar of the economy. She stressed that, back in 2013, the State Council has already made plans for the development of the environmental industry, and the country will take low-carbon development as a basis to turn the environmental industry into new pillar for the country´s industry. Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Former Prime Minister of Norway, who chaired the World Commission on the Environment and Development, the “Brundtland Commission”, Special Envoy on Climate Change of the United Nations and Former Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) delivered her keynote speech during the Opening Ceremony. At the Green Forum tomorrow (27 March), experts and academics from different countries and regions will continue to express their insight on various environmental issues. Through the Green Matching, Green Exhibition and Green Networking, exhibitors and buyers will promote business co-operation and jointly create business opportunities.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that both the unemployment rate (1.7%) and the underemployment rate (0.4%) for December 2014-February 2015 continued to remain stable as in November 2014-January 2015. Total labour force was 403,400 and the labour force participation rate stood at 74.0%. Total employment was 396,500, a decrease of 1,300 from November 2014-January 2015. Analysed by industry, employment in Hotels, Restaurants & Similar Activities and Construction saw decrease. Number of the unemployed was 6,900, up by 200 from November 2014-January 2015; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 9.2% of the total unemployed, down by 2.1 percentage points. In comparison with December 2013-February 2014, the labour force participation rate increased by 0.6 percentage points, while both the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate remained constant.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that attributable to the Lunar New Year holidays, visitor arrivals increased by 4.5% year-on-year to 2,676,024 in February 2015; same-day visitors totalled 1,574,123, up by 13.8%. The average length of stay of visitors decreased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 0.9 day; overnight and same-day visitors had an average stay of 1.8 days and 0.2 day respectively. Visitors from Mainland China rose by 10.7% year-on-year to 1,898,650, coming primarily from Guangdong Province (965,127), Zhejiang Province (64,430) and Fujian Province (58,351). Mainland visitors travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme set a new single-month record of 1,141,165, up substantially by 38.9%. Visitors from Taiwan (74,176) and the Republic of Korea (56,240) increased by 1.4% and 7.3% respectively year-on-year, while those from Hong Kong (522,796) decreased by 5.2%. Long-haul visitors from the United States (11,693), Australia (5,665), Canada (5,245) and the United Kingdom (3,920) registered year-on-year decline. Regarding mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land totalled 1,585,052, up by 15.1% year-on-year; visitors entering through the Border Gate accounted for 85.3% of the total, at 1,352,055, up by 13.0%, while those arriving via the Checkpoint of Cotai rose notably by 29.9% to 231,247. Visitor arrivals by sea decreased by 8.9% year-on-year to 915,999, of which visitors entering via the Outer Harbour (576,616) and the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa (287,156) dropped by 8.7% and 11.0% respectively. Visitor arrivals by air decreased by 2.0% year-on-year to 174,973, with 174,036 entering via the airport. In the first two months of 2015, visitor arrivals reached 5,141,636, up by 1.5% year-on-year, with same-day visitors sharing 57.4% of the total. Visitors from Mainland China (3,568,302), Taiwan (151,159) and the Republic of Korea (125,031) increased by 4.8%, 0.1% and 12.1% respectively year-on-year, but those from Hong Kong (995,996) and Japan (38,685) dropped by 4.8% and 24.8%. Moreover, long-haul visitors from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom recorded year-on-year decrease.
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