News

On the occasion of the European Incentive & Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition (EIBTM 2011) held in Barcelona between 29 Nov to 1 Dec, the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), together with 3 representatives of event organizers, destination management companies (DMCs) and hotel from Macau, promoted the home city and its recent MICE development to the tradeshow participants. Held at Barcelona's Fira Gran Via exhibition venue this year, the European Incentive & Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition is one of the leading global events for the meetings and incentive industry held in Europe annually. There were over 14,000 professionals, from over 90 countries; including 3,800 hosted buyers and 3,100 exhibitors. MGTO received 21 hosted buyer appointments and conducted 7 destination presentations. By exhibiting at the EIBTM 2011, it did not only help promote Macau's new MICE products, but also increased its exposure in the European market as well as strengthening its image as a premier MICE destination of Asia. During the three day event, the Meeting Planners Guide and Macau Incentive Guide were given out at the MGTO promotion booth, drawing lots of potential suppliers' and buyers' attention and requests for more information about having their events held in Macau.
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The Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) is pleased to advise that on 2 November 2011 the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) endorsed the accession of AMCM to the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMOU), which governs the basic cooperation requirements relating to the exchange of confidential information and the assurance that such information will only be deployed in the process of supervision. The MMOU of the IAIS and the other similar agreements concluded between the signatories who are financial entities have arisen from a motion of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) established under the auspices of the G20. The formulation of all the agreements is one of the core working objectives laid down by the FSB with a view to enhancing mutual coordination and cooperation in the realm of supervision in response to the global financial crisis. AMCM is the 20th signatory of the MMOU as accepted by the IAIS. The IAIS was founded in 1994. Its members come from 140 countries covering over 190 jurisdictions. The prime objective of the organization is to promote cooperation among all its member supervisors with a view to exchanging information, collecting and disseminating statistical data and other technical materials.
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Owing to the strike action taken by customs workers in Uruguay, Macao Post announced that mail delivery (including Correspondence, Printed Matters, Small Packet and Parcel) from Macao to Uruguay are subject to delay until further notice. Thank you for your kind attention.
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Owing to strike action taken by customs workers in El Salvador, Macao Post announced that mail delivery services (including Correspondence, Printed Matters, Small Packet and Parcel) from Macao to El Salvador are subject to delay until further notice. Thank you for your kind attention.
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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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