News

Owing to flooding in New South Wales, Macao Post announced that all mail delivery services (including Correspondence, Printed Matters, Small Packet, Parcel and EMS) from Macao to areas bearing the following postal codes are subject to delay until further notice. Postal Code 2266 – 2338, 2339 – 2412, 2413 – 2430, 2431 – 2459, 2591 – 2639 Thank you for your kind attention.
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The distribution work of 2011 Cash Subsidy has basically finished on 11 November this year. A total amount of MOP 1,809,099,600.00 has been handed out to beneficiaries in the course of its implementation. 511,840 crossed cheques have been mailed, which summed up to MOP$ 1,444,657,200, and until the present time, 439,287 cheques were withdrawn, representing 85.8% of the total number of cheques. A Support Centre for Cash Subsidy entered into service on 30 August to cater for enquiries and deal with procedures related to the cash disbursement. As of 2 December, some 19,383 enquiries have been handled, with the majority of which being personal visits, summing up to 14,242 enquiries, around 73.5% of the total. The second most popular channel was telephone enquiry, which stands for 25.8% or 5,010 enquiries. Personal visits to the Centre were mainly for re-issuance of cheques, which totaled 5,392 cases, whereas 953 came for the purpose of alteration of address. The Support Centre operated till 2 December, and from 5 December onward; residents can go to the Service Centre of Civil and Municipal Affairs Bureau located in Avenida da Grande Praia, China Plaza, 2/F for assistance regarding procedures associated with the Cash Subsidy. The opening hours of this Service Centre are from 9am to 6pm straight, Monday to Friday, except public holidays. Telephone enquiries are available at 8795 2675 and 8795 2676. The service hotline 2822 5000, fax 2822 3000 as well as the official website of Cash Subsidy http://www.ap.gov.mo will be retained to provide relevant information.
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With the guidance of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the first "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week" that is jointly held by the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Macao Special Administrative Region and the Identification Services Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region came to a successful end on 3rd December 2011. All activities were held successfully with the high concern and strong support of the Central People's Government. The organizer is grateful for the support and assistance from all supporting entities, educational sector, press and media and various sectors of the society. Furthermore, Mr. Huang Ping, the Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China especially mentioned several times about the importance of the preventive consular protection in the seminars during the promotion week. The Identification Services Bureau of the Macao SAR will cooperate with the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Macao SAR on implementing the promotion of preventive consular protection. In order to provide Macao residents with more considerate services, the Identification Services Bureau of the Macao SAR will study to enrich the content of the consular protection SMS (short message services) provided to Macao residents. Local information and safety reminders of the countries that Macao residents travelling to will be increased. It is believed that such message will bring conveniences and benefits to Macao residents. The Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Macao SAR and the Identification Services Bureau of the Macao SAR expect the "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week" can further enhance the knowledge of Macao residents on consular protection and consular services. It can also improve their safety precaution and the conscience of self-protection, and strengthen their ability to handle emergency, so as to reach the aim of going abroad and returning home safely. In addition, the "Chinese Consular Service Net" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China （http://cs.mfa.gov.cn） has been put into use on 22nd November 2011. The website introduces the knowledge of consular protection and consular services of China, including the guidelines of consular protection, overseas safety, contact information of overseas embassies/consulates of the People's Republic of China, and so on. When citizens are browsing the website of the Identification Services Bureau (www.dsi.gov.mo), they can also get access to the information about consular protection and consular services through the linkage to the "Chinese Consular Service Net".
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Aiming to encourage the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises to adopt the franchise business model as a mean to develop their brand business, Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) has, for the first time, co-organized with Taiwan´s China Youth Career Development Association (CYCDA), an "Entrepreneurship Series – Franchising and Chain Stores Operation" training course designed for companies, the first part of which took place on November 30 at the Macao Business Support Centre (MBSC) of IPIM. The said event received an overwhelming response, having attracted the participation of over 130 representatives of the local SMEs. According to the Organizers, taking into account the sustainable development needs of the SMEs, it is expected that the holding of such activity will enable the SMEs to better understand on the complexity of brands building and to utilize the advantages derived therefrom. The said course was conducted by Dr. Jack Lin, Senior Adviser and Lecturer of the CYCDA headquarters, during which he presented an analysis of the current development and trends of chain stores in Mainland China, Taiwan and the other parts of the world, highlighted with various case studies, and shared with the audience his knowledge and experience in this field. In the interactive sessions, participating SMEs exchanged and discussed with the lecturer issues regarding the selection of franchisees, drafting of contractual clauses, intellectual property and brand appeal, among others. In addition to the above-mentioned corporate training course, IPIM will organize a study visit to Taiwan, from December 12 to 15 this year, for local enterprises, as the second part of the "Entrepeneurship Series – Franchising and Chain Stores Operation". The said activity is designed by China Youth Career Development Association (CYCDA) and will include several site visits, lead by the corporate trainers of CYCDA, to several branded enterprises, namely restaurants, clothing, electronic and communication retailers, to further study the successful business model of the Taiwanese brands. Participants who have successfully completed the training course and the study visit will receive a certificate awarded by the CYCDA.
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Today (3 December 2011), the University of Macau (UM) held a talk on "string theory and the geometry of the universe's hidden dimensions", as part of the 30th Anniversary Lecture Series. Speaker Prof. Shing-Tung Yau is a world-renowned mathematician and recipient of the Wolf Prize Laureate in Mathematics in 2010, the Fields Medal in 1982 (which is the world's most prestigious prize in mathematics), and an honorary doctorate from UM in 2002. The talk attracted a full-house audience, including teachers and students from local secondary schools and tertiary institutions. In his speech, UM Rector Wei Zhao said that Prof. Yau grew up in a poor family, and when he started college, many of his peers chose popular disciplines in hopes of landing a well-paid job after graduation, but the young Yau didn't follow the crowd; he focused single-mindedly on mathematics, and eventually became a master in the field. Rector Wei Zhao said that Prof. Yau's example shows that curiosity, diligence, a clear goal, and contentment with a simple life not revolving around the pursuit of material possessions are key to reaching one's full potential. The audience also learned that because of the influence of his father, who was a professor of philosophy, Prof. Yau developed a strong interest in Chinese philosophy, history and classical literature as a child, and from those books, he learned about the ways of life and scholarship. Prof. Yau is well versed in a diverse range of disciplines, which he credits to general education. Prof. Yau is also devoted to advancing teaching and research in mathematics in Chinese communities. He has spared no efforts to raise funds to establish mathematics research centres in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and mainland China. During the talk, Prof. Yau noted that string theory assumes that spacetime has ten dimensions overall, and the three large spatial dimensions that we're familiar with, plus time, make up the four-dimensional spacetime of Einstein's theory. But there are also six additional dimensions hidden away in Calabi-Yau space. He introduced the audience to the history of geometry through his first-hand experiences in the field. He also discussed how mathematicians think and approach the world. In his opinion, mathematics does not have to be a wholly abstract discipline, disconnected from everyday phenomena, but is instead crucial to our understanding of the physical world. He also talked about how mathematics and physics can come together to the benefit of both fields, particularly in the case of Calabi-Yau spaces and string theory. Prof. Yau has made fundamental contributions to differential geometry, uncovering deep intrinsic geometric structures in an astonishingly wide range of scientific disciplines like differential geometry, algebraic geometry, topology, partial differential equations, general relativity and string theory. In 1976 he proved Calabi's conjecture on a class of manifolds now named Calabi-Yau manifolds, which has now become the geometric ground on which physicists build their string theory. His new method of studying global differential equations is so powerful that it has had a seminal influence on general relativity. Prof. Yau is recognized as one of the world's most influential mathematicians under the age of fifty.
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Consumer Council released its November's specific price survey on cooking oil. In the current survey, most surveyed samples recorded both slight increase and decrease in prices. 'Mazola Corn Oil (3.5L)' recorded a price decrease of up to 10 per cent in several retail spots, a price difference of almost 76 per cent was observed in 'Lion & Globe Pure Olive Oil (500ml)'. The Council conducted the latest survey on 29th November, surveying 23 samples of cooking oil from 24 local retail outlets to provide consumers a comprehensive selection for price comparison. Most surveyed samples recorded slight increase or decrease in price; significant price increase was observed in 'Camel Brand Corn Oil (2L)' in which a price rise of over 10 per cent was observed in 3 different outlets, on the contrary, 'Mazola Corn Oil (3.5L)' recorded price drop of almost 10 per cent in 10 different outlets. In the current survey, a general price difference of 10 to 30 per cent was observed for the same product sold in different outlets. The highest difference recorded this time was found in 'Lion & Globe Pure Olive Oil (500ml)' in which the lowest and highest selling price differed for almost 76 per cent; 'Tripod Brand Top Quality Pure Peanut Oil (2L)', however, recorded only a price gap of 5 per cent. The specific price survey on cooking oil is now available online on the Council's official website (www.consumer.gov.mo). For enquiries, please call 8988 9315.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that a total of 236 MICE events were held in the third quarter of 2011; average duration of the events stood at 2.1 days; number of participants and attendees totalled 507,661. In comparison with the same quarter of 2010, number and average duration of MICE events decreased by 87 and 0.2 day respectively; on the contrary, total number of participants and attendees soared by 39%. There were 15 exhibitions held in the third quarter of 2011, attracting 483,934 attendees (95% of total), with an average duration of 3.3 days; at the same time, a total of 221 meetings and conferences were held in this quarter, with an average duration of 2.0 days and 23,727 participants. Analyzed by subject of events, 122 MICE events focused on Commerce, Trade & Management, accounting for 52% of the total; besides, MICE events on IT & Other Technology were 30. MICE events decreased by 248 from a year earlier to 771 in the first three quarters of 2011, while number of participants and attendees reached 755,324, up by 29% year-on-year. With fewer events and more attendees, figures on the first three quarters suggest that the MICE sector has optimized to draw more attendees with enhancement of event content. In the third quarter of 2011, data were collected from 12 exhibition organizers (80% of total) and 9 were local enterprises. As some of the exihibitions were organized or subsidised by the Government, total revenue amounted to MOP 9,474,032, mostly from Rentals of Exhibition Booth (54% of total); and Subsidies from Government and Other Organizations (35%). Total expenditure was MOP 24,365,432, with expenses on Advertising, Promotion & Public Relations; and Rentals of Venue accounting for 24% and 18% of the total respectively. In the first three quarters of 2011, total revenue and expenditure of exhibition organizers amounted to MOP 32,506,150 and MOP 44,177,366 respectively. In accordance with the information on 126 exhibitors interviewed, 44% were local exhibitors and 28% were from Hong Kong. Total revenue of the exhibitors amounted to MOP 3,387,116 and the majority (93%) came from Sales of Products. Total expenditure was MOP 2,456,862, with expenses on Booth Rentals taking up 60% of the total expenditure. In the first three quarters of 2011, total revenue and expenditure of the interviewed exhibitors amounted to MOP 9,654,623 and MOP 5,109,056 respectively.
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Owing to the strike action by workers of the public sector on 30 November 2011 in United Kingdom, Macao Post announced that all postal services (including Correspondence, Printed Matters, Small Packet and Parcel) from Macao to United Kingdom are subject to delay until further notice. Thank you for your kind attention.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the third quarter of 2011 expanded by 21.1% in real terms; economic growth was driven by the impetus of exports of services, private consumption expenditure and investment. Exports of gaming services surged by 39.8%, total visitor spending (excluding gaming expenses) increased by 9.1%, private consumption expenditure expanded by 9.0%, investment went up by 5.7% and government final consumption expenditure rose by 6.9%; however, merchandise exports decreased by 4.4%. In addition, implicit deflator of GDP that measures changes in overall prices increased by 7.9% year-on-year. For the first three quarters of 2011, GDP grew by 21.8% year-on-year. GDP growth for the first and second quarters of 2011 is revised downward from 21.6% and 24.0% to 20.9% and 23.4% respectively; besides, economic growth for 2011 is revised upward from 26.4% to 27.1%. Favourable improvements in the job market, further decrease in unemployment rate and marked increase in employment income helped to support private consumption expenditure to rise by 9.0% in the third quarter of 2011, higher than the 8.4% increase in the last quarter. Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market increased by 9.4%; at the same time, household final consumption expenditure abroad registered an increase of 7.8%, with that in Mainland China amounting to MOP 1.84 billion. Government final consumption expenditure went up by 6.9%, higher than the 6.4% rise in the second quarter, of which compensation of employees, as well as net purchases of goods and services increased by 4.3% and 10.0% respectively. Gross fixed capital formation, the gauge of investment, expanded by 5.7%, slowing down significantly from the 20.6% increase in the second quarter. Private investment rose by 1.8%, of which construction investment shrank by 8.8% while equipment investment increased by 30.8%. Government investment registered an increase of 19.8%, of which construction investment expanded by 4.2% and equipment investment soared substantially by 234.4%. Merchandise exports saw continuous decline, down by 4.4% in the third quarter, decelerating from the 8.3% decrease in the previous quarter. On the contrary, merchandise imports rose by 29.5%, higher than the 24.3% increase in the second quarter, attributable to the expansion in private consumption and visitor spending. As regards trade in services, exports of services surged robustly by 33.5% on the back of rising visitor arrivals and visitor spending, slightly higher than the 33.0% increase in the second quarter. Exports of gaming services expanded by 39.8% and total visitor spending went up by 9.1%. In addition, imports of services increased by 35.7%, slightly lower than the 35.8% increase in the second quarter.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export for October 2011 amounted to MOP533 million, down by 5.4% year-on-year; value of domestic exports (MOP188 million) decreased by 20.9%, but that of re-exports (MOP345 million) increased by 5.9%. Total merchandise import grew by 47.1% year-on-year to MOP5.45 billion. Merchandise trade deficit amounted to MOP4.92 billion in October 2011. In the first ten months of 2011, total value of merchandise export decreased by 4.5% year-on-year to MOP5.59 billion, of which value of domestic exports and re-exports declined by 2.8% and 5.3% respectively; meanwhile, total value of merchandise import increased by 40.8% to MOP49.94 billion. Merchandise trade deficit for the first ten months of 2011 widened by 49.7% year-on-year to MOP44.35 billion; the exports/imports ratio dropped by 5.3 percentage points year-on-year to 11.2%. Merchandise export to Hong Kong (MOP2.42 billion), Mainland China (MOP893 million) and the USA (MOP459 million) in the first ten months of 2011 decreased by 3.7%, 3.9% and 33.2% respectively year-on-year. Exports of Textile & garment declined by 17.0% to MOP1.14 billion; meanwhile, exports of Clocks & watches (MOP217 million) and Diamond & diamond jewellery (MOP209 million) decreased by 30.9% and 64.3% respectively, but that of Tobacco & wine (MOP527 million) grew by 58.5%. In the first ten months of 2011, merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP15.25 billion) and the EU (MOP12.40 billion) expanded by 38.0% and 58.9% respectively year-on-year. Imports of Consumer goods rose by 46.3% to MOP30.68 billion, with imports of Food & beverages (MOP6.97 billion), Gold jewellery (MOP5.16 billion) and Handbags & wallets (MOP2.69 billion) increasing by 36.7%, 96.1% and 117.3% respectively. Moreover, imports of Capital goods (MOP8.70 billion) registered year-on-year increase of 59.6%. In the first ten months of 2011, total value of external merchandise trade amounted to MOP55.53 billion, up by 34.4% compared with MOP41.32 billion a year earlier.
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