News

The Identification Services Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region was informed by the Consulate General of New Zealand in Hong Kong on 27 June 2014 that, with effect from 30 June 2014, the holders of Macao SAR Passport will be exempted from visa requirements when entering New Zealand for a maximum stay of 3 months. The Macao SAR Government has been striving to request visa-free privilege for holders of the Macao SAR Passport when entering New Zealand. The visa exemption arrangement will further deepen the relationship between the two places and strengthen the ease of travellers and therefore to boost in the tourism, and socio-culture between New Zealand and the Macao SAR. For more information on the visa waiver, please visit the following website of the Government of New Zealand: http://glossary.immigration.govt.nz/VisaFreeCountries.htm. ("Macao" will be added to the visa waiver list in the next update of the above website.)
…

On 21 June, the University of Macau (UM) held its annual congregation. During the congregation, an unexpected incident happened, which compromised the solemn atmosphere of the ceremony and disrupted the order at the event venue. Afterwards, UM inquired about the details of the incident with the relevant departments, and actively reviewed the way in which the incident was handled. It was a regrettable incident and UM feels very sorry for those who were affected in the process. UM reiterates its respect for academic freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. It will review what happened in order to improve arrangements about future congregations. After the incident, UM's top management met with colleagues from the relevant departments to inquire about the details of what happened. UM representatives have also met with representatives from the Graduation Committee, Students' Union, student organisations from various faculties, Postgraduate Association, student publications, various alumni associations, UM Faculty Association, and other representatives, to discuss the incident and listen to suggestions. As UM learned, below are the details of what happened: Before the congregation began, a student carrying a banner entered the event venue. Before the ceremony began, some working staff and some of the student's teachers repeatedly advised her to hand over the banner to UM staff for safekeeping so that the banner would not cause herself inconvenience when the time came for her to get on the stage to receive the graduation certificate. The staff and teachers also told the student that the banner would be returned to her after the congregation was over, but the student refused to follow the advice. After all the students entered the event venue, most of the journalists followed UM's working staff's directions to an area to get ready to take pictures of the procession, except for several journalists. These journalists remained in the aisle on the left side of the stage. As that area served as a passage for off-stage guests and working staff, UM staff requested them not to stay there. In response, these journalists followed UM staff's directions to another area to cover the ceremony. However, two journalists refused to leave. After the working staff's repeated attempts to reason with them, the two journalists, including the journalist from Macau Concealers, stood back a little towards the wall. After the congregation began, everyone present stood up solemnly to welcome the procession. When the procession was just about to end and before the National Anthem started, the student suddenly held up the banner, and upon seeing this, the journalist from Macau Concealers not only immediately went back to the area which the working staff had repeatedly requested him to leave, but also moved to the front of the stage and started taking pictures in a spot between the band and the guests sitting in the first row. One working staff member went over to him to try to reason with him, but was ignored. When the working staff member tried to move him back to the original area, he started shouting. At the same time, the working staff tried to make the student put down the banner, but she also started shouting. As it all happened so suddenly, the journalists who had been covering the ceremony in the original area then rushed over to take pictures of the incident. At this point, the situation got more chaotic. To make sure that the ceremony could proceed in a smooth manner, the working staff and security staff had no choice but to make the two leave the event venue, in hopes of restoring order as soon as possible. It was unfortunate that there was some pushing and jostling in the process. Outside the event venue, the student was still very emotional and kept shouting, "Where is my friend? What did you do to him?" In view of this, one female working staff member walked over to her to hug her and kept comforting her. Later the student gave interviews to the media, and returned to the event venue to continue to participate in the congregation and went on the stage to receive the graduation certificate. The journalist from Macau Concealers also gave interviews to the media. The other journalists went back to covering the congregation. The congregation is a joyous occasion for the students, their family member and friends to celebrate the fruit of four years of hard work. It is also the university's most solemn and grand event. Therefore, it is important to make sure that all the students, their family members, and friends can enjoy their right to experience a solemn and orderly congregation. The moment when everyone stands up to welcome the procession consisting of VIPs and teachers and before the National Anthem is about to start is the most solemn moment at the congregation that should be respected. It is deeply regrettable that this unfortunate incident happened at this most solemn moment. UM apologises to all those who were affected in the process. UM stresses that it always respects academic freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. It firmly believes that anyone has the right to express his or her personal opinions, but in doing so one must respect others and respect the occasion. It was an unfortunate incident, and UM will humbly learn from it. UM will review what happened and humbly listen to criticisms and suggestions in order to improve arrangements about future congregations.
…

After the Master Chef Demonstration Workshop on Mexican Cuisine on 19 June, the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) together with the Consulate General of Peru in Hong Kong and Macao SAR, and the Macao Association for the Promotion of Exchange between Asia-Pacific and Latin America (MAPEAL) hosted the Peruvian Cuisine Cooking Demonstration Workshop on 26 June, helping hospitality and food and beverage professionals understand more about Peruvian cuisine, Chef María Rosa Vásquez Chavez was invited to share the concepts of Peruvian cuisine and several recipes. Mr. David Málaga, Consul General of Peru, Hong Kong and Macao also attended and supported the event. Chef María Rosa Vásquez Chavez is a multifaceted cook who has constant collaboration with Master Chef De Gloria Molina Hinostroza Clausen demonstrating Peruvian cuisine cooking in the renowned Peruvian cooking show LE CORDON BLEU PERU. Chef María has travelled around the world representing Peruvian cuisine in several high-profile events in Asia. She also travelled to teach Peruvian gastronomy master classes, customised classes, free courses and workshops for the general public. She has been chef collaborator in writing the cookbooks "Book of the Potato" as well as "The 100 Best Recipes of Peruvian Cuisine". The workshop was composed of five sessions: introduction to Peruvian culinary and its ingredients, introducing the recipes and preparing ingredients, key issues of the production process, demonstration, food tasting and Q&A. Four dishes were demonstrated at the workshop: seafood ceviche, quinoa salad with arúgula, funghi, seasonal mushrooms and sour cream, shredded chicken with chili sauce, and suspiro de Quinoa. The workshop attracted a total of 33 chefs from hotels and restaurants. Participants not only gained basic knowledge about Peruvian cuisine through the demonstration, but also experienced the whole production process, and tasted the Peruvian gourmet food. IFT has always been dedicated to organise promotions of different ethnic cuisines for local industry and the public. At the same time, it arouses the interests of food service industry in Macao to explore more ideas in cooking. Through "Master Chef Cooking Demo Series", IFT forms a communication platform for local and overseas chefs. The institute will make more efforts to offer more training programmes to help enhance the knowledge and skills of industry professionals.
…

The Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS), jointly conducted by the Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) and the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), is aimed at collecting information on Macao residents' investment in securities issued by unrelated non-residents, in terms of market value and geographical distribution. The results as at 31 December 2013 are summarised as follows: On 31 December 2013, investment of Macao residents (including individuals, the government and other legal entities but excluding Macao's foreign exchange reserves) in securities issued by unrelated non-residents reached a record-high of MOP391.0 billion at current market value, up by 26.3% from 30 June 2013 or 49.1% year-on-year. The significant growth in Macao residents' portfolio investment abroad was largely attributable to the increases in the MSAR's Fiscal Reserve and the provisional portfolio. Among the portfolio investment abroad of Macao residents, equity securities, long-term debt securities and short-term debt securities were valued at MOP171.6 billion, MOP203.8 billion and MOP15.6 billion respectively. In comparison with end-2012, investment in equity securities, of which mutual funds and investment trust units amounted to MOP25.6 billion, rose by 28.6%. Investment in long-term debt securities and short-term debt securities soared by 73.3% and 38.1% respectively. In terms of geographical distribution, Mainland China assumed the leading position, occupying 45.7% of the total market value of local residents' portfolio investment outside Macao. The rest was mainly invested in Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg and the United States. Investment in securities issued by entities in Mainland China, including those securities listed on non-Mainland exchanges, amounted to MOP178.7 billion, growing notably by 37.9% from end-June 2013 or 92.9% from end-2012. It consisted of MOP23.8 billion in equity securities, MOP142.0 billion in long-term debt securities and MOP12.9 billion in short-term debt securities, constituting 13.9%, 69.7% and 83.1% of the respective total. The share of investment in securities issued by entities in Hong Kong fell from 32.4% a year earlier to 29.8% at end-2013. Nevertheless, the corresponding market value increased by 36.9% to MOP116.5 billion, of which investment in equity securities and long-term debt securities rose to MOP101.2 billion and MOP13.2 billion respectively. The share of investment in European securities dropped by 5.5 percentage points year-on-year to 8.7% and the corresponding market value contracted by 8.5% to MOP34.2 billion. Among the European countries, Luxembourg took the largest share with a total market value of MOP13.6 billion at end-2013, a year-on-year increase of 59.6%. On the other hand, the market value of Macao residents' portfolio investment in the United Kingdom slid by 12.4% year-on-year from a year earlier to MOP7.2 billion. Germany, France and the Netherlands also saw their market value of investment drop by 38.4%, 27.3% and 69.0% respectively. The market value of Macao residents' portfolio investment in various jurisdictions of the North Atlantic and Caribbean registered notable increases, driving the total market value of investment in this region to surge by 46.8% year-on-year to MOP30.5 billion, though its share in the total investment abroad dropped slightly to 7.8%. In particular, the market value of portfolio investment in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands grew by 54.7%, 27.9% and 50.1% to MOP17.4 billion, MOP6.7 billion and MOP6.3 billion respectively. The market value of Macao residents' investment in US securities grew by 3.8% year-on-year to MOP9.5 billion, notwithstanding that the corresponding share slid from 3.5% at end-2012 to 2.4% at end-2013. The investment in long-term US debt securities increased marginally by 0.4% to MOP6.7 billion, representing the third largest share in the corresponding category.
…

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate has been staying at record low during the past five months, for which the unemployment rate (1.7%) and the underemployment rate (0.4%) for March-May 2014 held stable as the previous period (February-April). Total labour force was 387,600 and the labour force participation rate stood at 73.3%. Total employment reached 381,100, was similar to that of February-April. Analysed by industry, employment in the Construction sector increased by 6.1% from the previous period, totalling 48,300. Number of the unemployed remained unchanged as February-April, at 6,400; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 10.7% of the total unemployed, up by 3.5 percentage points. In comparison with March-May 2013, the labour force participation rate increased by 1.3 percentage points, while the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate decreased by 0.1 and 0.4 percentage points respectively.
…

The "Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Tourism Cooperation Meeting" was held in Macau today (26 June) as one of the pre-event activities under the 10th Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation & Development Forum and Economic & Trade Fair (PPRD Forum). Officials representing the PPRD provinces and regions signed the "Framework Agreement on Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation in Tourism" during the meeting. Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Cheong U; Deputy Head of Economic Department of Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macau SAR, Kou Ming and Director of General Affairs Section of Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation Secretariat of Joint Chief Executive Conference, Huang Han Ji attended the signing ceremony as witnesses. The tourism officials of the PPRD provinces and regions signed the "Framework Agreement on Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation in Tourism" while all the guests witnessed the signing. The Framework Agreement covers cooperation in eight scopes including promoting cooperation on tourism products, enhancing tourism promotion, optimizing the mutual information-notification system, building accessible tourism districts, advancing regional cooperation and regulation, strictly enforcing the Tourism Law, jointly facilitating training opportunities and improving the safeguard mechanism for cooperation so as to keep forging ahead with PPRD regional cooperation in tourism and together build the brand of PPRD as a regional travel destination. Director of Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes and Director of General Affairs Section of Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation Secretariat of Joint Chief Executive Conference, Huang Han Ji both gave a speech at the meeting. Director Senna Fernandes remarked, "Under economic globalization and the expedited development of regional economic cooperation as the main trend nowadays, it is our common aspiration and demand to enhance PPRD regional cooperation. Looking into the future path of regional tourism development, we will not only keep complementing each other's tourism resources and promoting our cooperation in quality tourism but also together explore more directions for collaboration." During the meeting, the tourism officials of the PPRD provinces and regions shared their tourism development trends and concluded their experience in regional cooperation in tourism. They also took the opportunity to study and explore future directions for cooperation. This year marks the 10th anniversary of PPRD regional cooperation. Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau will co-host the "10th Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation & Development Forum and Economic & Trade Fair" (PPRD Forum) in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province on 13 – 14 October this year. The 10th PPRD Forum comprises two stages namely "Pre-event activities" and "Forum". "Pre-event activities" will take place from May to September including panel discussions, business matching sessions and activities in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of PPRD regional cooperation, etc. whereas the "Forum" will take place in mid-October including the opening ceremony of the 10th PPRD Forum, an exhibition of the 10-year achievements of PPRD regional cooperation, high-level forum, Chief Executive Joint Conference, superior meetings as well as project presentations by the PPRD provinces and regions. Following the Panel Discussion on the Economic Environment of Portuguese Speaking Countries co-organized by Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) and the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province last month, the "Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Tourism Cooperation Meeting" took place today as the second panel discussion among other pre-event activities. After the meeting adjourned, MGTO hosted a banquet for the representatives of the PPRD provinces and regions as well as the members of Tourism Development Committee, etc. Co-hosted by the tourism departments of the nine provinces and two regions ("9+2") of Pan-Pearl River Delta Region, the "Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Tourism Cooperation Meeting" was organized by MGTO. This press release is available at: http://industry.macautourism.gov.mo/en/
…

Consumer Council completed a survey on the after-sales service of washer and washer & dryer. The survey includes 21 brands of washer and washer & dryer, surveyed criteria cover their free warranty period and coverage, warranty renewal policy, storage period of component parts, etc.. Details of the survey can be found in the latest issue no. 250 of Consumer Report.
There are many kinds of electrical appliances and most of them last for over several years. To avoid spending extra money for maintenance, after-sales service becomes a main issue when consumers choose to purchase electrical appliances; consumers especially focus on the length of free warranty period and warranty coverage.
Consumer Council indicates that after-sales service should include not only the abovementioned basic criteria, this is because other issues such as whether warranty renewal is provided by the manufacturer, the provision of maintenance service after production is suspended, or the storage period of component parts are all major issues which affect the warranty and maintenance period of the product. For example, if the manufacturer has not defined a storage period for a certain component part, once the production of the product is suspended, even when the electrical appliance is still under its warranty period, there will be no component part available for maintenance.
The mentioned survey includes responses from local dealers or maintenance providers of 21 brands of washer and washer & dryer, details of the survey can be found in issue no. 250 of Consumer Report.
Winners of the Chinese crossword puzzle held earlier for 'World Consumer Rights Day' have been announced in the current issue of Consumer Report. The Council will continue to publish a Chinese crossword puzzle in each issue of Consumer Report for consumers to participate. 10 winners will be awarded with a electronic smartcard with face value of $130 (deposit included) and a new crossword puzzle will be renewed every two months. Interested Consumer Report is now available free of charge at the Consumer Council (Av. Horta e Costa, N.º 24-A, Edf. Cheung Heng, R/C), and the service counter of the Council at Macao SAR Government Service Centre (Rua Nova da Areia Preta, Nº52), Public Information Centre at Vicky Plaza, libraries and bookstores. Consumers may also access the magazine online on the Council's official website (http://www.consumer.gov.mo). For enquiries, please call 8988 9315.
…

Consumer Council conducted its seventh 'Supermarket price survey' in June on 23 June for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included 11 supermarkets in Sé 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.
…

In view of the restructuring of our postal distribution routes in Taipa, please be informed that with effect from 1st July 2014, "Posta Restante" service in the Carmo Post Office will be limited to those residents and stores located in the Taipa old urban area, and the Nova Taipa Post Office will resume that service for the remaining residents. Upon receipt of the arrival advice, please be reminded that citizens should pick up the mail according to the designated post office and date. For further information, please contact the Carmo Post Office (Tel: 2882 7010) or the Nova Taipa Post Office (Tel: 28844038) during office hours.
…

Macao Post and Thailand Post will jointly issue a new stamp theme of "General Post Office Building" on 1st November 2014, to promote friendship through cultural exchanges between Macao and Thailand.
…