News

The Seminar on "Government Auditing within EU Member-States", organised by the Financial Services Bureau will commence, Monday, 19th September, at 6:150 p.m., in the Auditorium of the "Finanças" Building located on Avenida da Praia Grande, n.º 575-585, basement. Integrated in the 2nd EU-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, this seminar will feature as its keynote speaker Professor Rowan Harrison Jones, Professor of Public Sector Accounting, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, UK and co-founder of Comparative International Governmental Accounting Research Network. This seminar will be conducted in English; during the five daily sessions, which will take place between 6:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. until 23rd September, the following topics will be discussed: 1. Introduction to financial and regularity audits and performance audits;
2. Internal control, materiality and budget auditing;
3. Audit: UK perspectives;
4. Audit: other European countries perspectives;
5. Audit: critical approaches. This event aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the public audit systems in various EU member states, so as to further enhance knowledge in this area. The 2nd EU-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, extending until December 2012, which embodies this seminar, has the "Consolidation of the Macao Legal System" as its main objective. The execution of the Co-operation Programme is coordinated by the Law Reform and International Law Bureau, with the participation of several other MSAR's entities and public departments, namely, the Legal and Judicial Training Centre, the Legal Affairs Bureau, the Economic Services, the Financial Services Bureau and the Institute of European Studies of Macau.
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A statement today from the Maritime Administration said the operation of the temporary Taipa Ferry Terminal was not affected despite the liquidation of the sea transport provider Macao Dragon Ferry. The Administration had activated a contingency plan and asked other ferry companies to provide extra capacity if necessary: but there was no need to operate extra ferries. Despite the Maritime Administration having not received a formal notification from Macao Dragon Ferry about its announced liquidation and cease of operation, it would launch an investigation into the company's cease of ferry operations and legal liabilities, the statement said. It said the passenger limit capped on the ferries of the company was determined by the capacity of the temporary Taipa Ferry Terminal and the safety record as the authorities always put priority to the safety of passengers and maritime safety in monitoring maritime transport operations. The Administration had requested the company to reimburse passengers who had purchased tickets, the statement said. A statement by the Consumer Council said that as of 17:00 today, it had received 32 complaint involving 428 ferry tickets valued at about $24,000 patacas. The Council found that most bought their ferry tickets through 'Bee Crazy' and 'Groupon Hong Kong', two internet sites. The two companies assured the Council that passengers would be fully refunded. Affected consumers may contact the council (Tel: 853-89889315) for assistance, the council said. The council would refer the cases to the Consumer Council of Hong Kong if necessary: over the Council of Macao and its Hong Kong counterpart had always maintained good relations on issues of protecting consumer rights.
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Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Cheong U met with experts from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) today (Sept 15). Accompanied by MGTO Director João Manuel Costa Antunes, Secretary Cheong met with the group of experts from various aspects, headed by Andrew Drysdale, at the Tourism Activities Centre. Cheong thanked the experts for coming to Macau for the field visit and take part in the task force project. He also introduced Macau's tourism development to the experts while task force leader, Andrew Drysdale, exchanged their findings after the field visit. Also participated in the meeting were MGTO Deputy Director Manuel Pires and Organizational Planning and Development Department head Cheng Wai Tong. MGTO has requested PATA to establish a task force to provide expert opinions in determining the future tourism policies and plans required to achieve the positioning of Macau as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure. The members of the PATA task force are Andrew Drysdale, executive director of Mentor Aviation Services Pty Ltd., Australia, Jon Hutchison, managing director of Business Events Sydney, Alastair Morrison, chief executive officer of Belle Tourism International Consulting Ltd., China, Lindsay Turner from Victoria University, Australia, Susan Warren, director of Making Tourism Work Associates, New Zealand and UK, and Stewart Moore, chief executive officer of EC3 Global, Australia. The PATA task force membership also includes Dai Bin, president of China Tourism Academy.
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The Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) has commenced the subscription for the 2012 Year of the Dragon commemorative coins since 01 August 2011. Due to the overwhelming response, the 5 oz silver proof coins have been oversubscribed. For those who are still interested in ordering the commemorative coins, there are still a small number of 7.776 grams gold proof coins and 31.10 grams silver proof coins available for subscription before 30 September 2011. Subscription form can be submitted in person to AMCM with full payment in cash, personal cheque or cashier order; or send through postal mail attached with personal cheque or cashier order payable to "Autoridade Monetária de Macau"(Address: Autoridade Monetária de Macau, Calçada do Gaio, No. 24-26, Macau). Please specify on the envelope with "DFR - Subscription for coins". Subscription form can be downloaded from AMCM's website (www.amcm.gov.mo). Public sale for the Dragon commemorative coins is not available at AMCM. For any enquiries, please contact Mr. Martin Leong at 83952100 or Ms. Kubi Lou at 83952199. Specifications of the coins
(* Please find the attached file)
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The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP238.9 billion (USD29.75 billion) at the end of August 2011. The reserves rose by 3.1% from the revised value of MOP231.8 billion (USD28.88 billion) for the previous month. When compared with a year earlier, the reserves increased by MOP73.7 billion or 44.6%. Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves at end-August 2011 represented 42 times the currency in circulation or 332.2% of Pataca M2 at end-July 2011. The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca, a gauge of the domestic currency's exchange rates against the currencies of Macao's major trading partners, fell by 0.39 points month-to-month and 4.50 points year-on-year to 86.34 in August 2011. For enquiry, please contact:
Research and Statistics Department, Monetary Authority of Macao (Tel: 83952532; Fax: 28353042)
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To promote the latest MICE development and tourism products of Macau in the Greater China market, the Macau Business Tourism Centre (MBTC) of Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) and 23 Macau trade participated in the prestigious China Incentive Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition (CIBTM) 2011 held in the China National Convention Centre (CNCC) in Beijing from 30th August to 1st September, 2011. CIBTM 2011 was co-hosted by China National Tourism Administration and Beijing Municipal People's Government and organized by Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development and Reed Travel Exhibitions. There were nearly 400 exhibiting companies, 323 Hosted Buyers and over 4500 professional visitors from around the world gathered, networked and exchanged business opportunities. MGTO has participated in the trade show for quite a few years now. This platform provided by CIBTM is great and it also allows the Macau trade to establish business networks with their counterparts in the Mainland, while serving as a gateway for Macau to get in touch with the industry professionals. This year, MGTO invited a total of 120 CIBTM hosted buyers and Macau trade representatives to a networking cocktail at the Macau booth on the first day of the trade show, which had successfully generated vast attention from the show floor. Feedback from both guests and Macau trade representatives indicated that the event was useful and facilitate their understanding about Macau's MICE development.
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A group of experts from Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is in Macau for a field visit as the starting point for a task force project to provide insight and recommendations for the positioning of the city as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure. Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) has requested PATA, which is recognized as a leading tourism organization in the Asia Pacific Region, to establish a task force to provide expert opinions in determining the future tourism policies and plans required to achieve the positioning of Macau as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure. To integrate the task force project PATA has appointed seven experts from the academic and consultancy fields covering area of expertise ranging from aviation to destination management and branding. The task force is expected to submit a report to MGTO by beginning of 2012. The task force members arrived in Macau on Sunday and will depart on Friday. The program of the group in Macau includes meetings with MGTO, several government and tourism industry entities, a tour to the Macau World Heritage and the new tourism developments, and a visit to Hengqin to learn more about the development plan in Zhuhai, among others. The members of the PATA task force are Andrew Drysdale, executive director of Mentor Aviation Services Pty Ltd., Australia, Jon Hutchison, managing director of Business Events Sydney, Alastair Morrison, chief executive officer of Belle Tourism International Consulting Ltd., China, Lindsay Turner from Victoria University, Australia, Susan Warren, director of Making Tourism Work Associates, New Zealand and UK, and Stewart Moore, chief executive officer of EC3 Global, Australia. The PATA task force membership also includes Dai Bin, president of China Tourism Academy, but he is not joining the field trip to Macau. PATA has been requested by MGTO to conduct five other task force projects in the past, namely: balance between preservation and tourism development (1980); education and training framework to meet short and long term manpower needs (1990); development of a meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) destination (1994); about setting up overseas representation offices (1996); and market diversification and interrelationship between aviation network and marketing promotion (2002).
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours soared by 46.1% year-on-year to 670,664 in July 2011. Visitors from Mainland China (489,503); Taiwan, China (46,776); Republic of Korea (31,066) and Hong Kong (28,839) surged by 51.2%, 90.8%, 151.1% and 19.3% respectively. On the contrary, visitors from Japan (14,879) decreased by 38.2%. In the first seven months of 2011, visitor arrivals in package tours went up by 7.7% year-on-year to 3,795,979. In July 2011, Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours increased by 5.3% year-on-year to 26,427. The most popular tour itineraries are Mainland China (72.3% of total), Thailand (7.1%) and Malaysia (5.0%). In the first seven months of 2011, outbound residents in package tours increased slightly by 0.1% year-on-year to 135,789. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies rose by 30.0% year-on-year to 65,018; the main destinations were Mainland China (47.3% of total); Hong Kong (20.5%); and Taiwan, China (15.2%). In the first seven months of 2011, outbound residents travelling under such arrangements went up by 25.4% year-on-year to 335,149. At the end of July 2011, total number of available guest rooms of hotels and guest-houses increased by 2,080 (+10.5%) year-on-year to 21,804 rooms, with that of 5-star hotels accounting for 62.8% of the total. Hotels and guest-houses received 795,827 guests in July 2011, up by 21.5% year-on-year, with the majority coming from Mainland China (54.2% of total) and Hong Kong (21.5%). The average length of stay of guests decreased by 0.07 night to 1.4 nights. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses notched up a record high of 88.2%, up by 8.2 percentage points year-on-year. Average occupancy rate of hotels reached 88.9%, with 4-star hotels leading at 93.1%. Hotel guests increased by 7.4% year-on-year to 4,784,618 in the first seven months of 2011; average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses stood at 82.9%, up by 4.1 percentage points from a year earlier. In the first seven months of 2011, visitor-guests accounted for 61.5% of the total number of tourists (overnight visitors), higher than 60.5% in the same period of 2010.
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The Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) was confirmed by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Tonga in Beijing that holders of the Macao SAR Passports can obtain visa-on-arrival in the Kingdom of Tonga for a stay of 31 days. At present, a total of 92 countries and territories have agreed to grant visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to the Macao SAR passport holders, while 9 countries have agreed to grant the visa-free access to the Macao SAR Travel Permit holders.
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To better support the development of the University of Macau (UM) after its relocation to the new campus on Hengqin Island as well as to create conditions for UM to achieve the objective of becoming a world-class institution, the Macao SAR government set up the UM Charter Revision Task Force in June 2011. Recently the task force visited Hong Kong and Singapore for the purpose of learning more about the reforms of governance modes of public higher education institutions (HE institutions) there as well as the reasons thereof, and reported relevant findings at the first UM Charter Revision Task Force Meeting afterwards. Task force members noted that in recent years HE institutions in both Hong Kong and Singapore are striving towards world-class institutions, and granting more autonomy in governance is one of the key measures taken by the local governments towards the realization of this objective; and the purpose of revising the UM Charter is to increase UM's international competitiveness and help it better meet future challenges. Thanks to the support of the Macao SAR government and the local community, the Judicial Regime of the University of Macau was passed by the Legislative Assembly of Macao SAR in September 2006, while the Charter of the University of Macau and the Personnel Statute of the University of Macau were also approved by the chief executive of Macao SAR. Afterwards UM began to adopt a governance structure where the university council is the supreme governing body, in line with international practice, and began to progress towards modernization and internationalization step by step. However, as a public legal person, UM is still subject to, among others, a public administrative system, a public financial system and laws and regulations governing public servants, which results in a complicated situation where governance by the University Council and governance by government systems run parallel with each other. This "dual governance" causes UM such problem in accountability, autonomy and some administrative operations that it stifles the university's development. In June 2011 the SAR government announced the establishment of the UM Charter Revision Task Force, hoping that a second Charter revision can help address relevant problems, better support UM's development after its relocation to the new campus, and create necessary conditions for UM to pursue the goal of becoming a world-class institution. Members of the UM Charter Revision Task Force include Tse Chi Wai (Chair), Iao Man Leng, Lei Pui Lam, Lam Kam Seng, Anabela Fatima Xavier Sales Ritchie, Tong Chi Kin, Leong Heng Teng, Vong Hin Fai, Yeung Tsun Man, Wei Zhao, Sou Chio Fai and Lai Iat Long (Secretary). To better understand the reforms of governance modes of public HE institutions in neighboring regions in recent years and also to borrow relevant experience, the task force went on a four-day visit to Hong Kong and Singapore from 31 August to 3 September. The task force successively visited higher education authorities in Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, higher education authorities in Singapore, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Discussions mainly revolved around how autonomy and accountability in the governance of HE institutions, the nature of legal person, and funding are related to the objective of developing world-class institutions. The fact that the visits by the task force were taken very seriously by relevant government officials and university heads in Hong Kong and Singapore shows that the current development of UM has aroused great attention from the HE sectors in these regions. At the first UM Charter Revision Task Force Meeting held on 6 September, UM representatives reported the various operational difficulties UM is grappling with, including the relationship between the SAR government and UM where the latter is governed by the former, the composition and operation of the University Council, the applicability of various public laws and regulations, as well as issues concerning the financial, personnel and administrative operations of UM. At the meeting, task force members also reported and summed up relevant findings of the 4-day visit to Hong Kong and Singapore. According to government officials in Singapore, the forerunners of the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, were directly governed by the government and were subject to public administrative laws and regulations. In 2004 the government of Singapore decided to corporatize the two public universities and introduce a corresponding accountability system to allow the two universities more administrative and financial autonomy so that they can better cope with the rapidly-developing and fiercely-competitive environment and achieve world-class excellence in certain academic realms on the back of their respective unique strengths. After the corporatization, the two institutions began to adjust the flexibility of their salary systems based on market demand, and introduced healthy competition mechanisms. To encourage private donations to the universities, the local government initiated a generous "government fund matching" policy, enabling universities to develop rapidly with the joint support of the government and the community. In Hong Kong, the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong SAR, which is of a non-statutory body , coordinates higher-education-related matters on behalf of the SAR government, and it is mainly responsible for allocating funds to relevant institutions and assisting with the strategic development of higher education. HE institutions in Hong Kong have the freedom to formulate academic development plans and plan about how to utilize resources based on their respective missions and visions, but are required to each submit a complete academic development plan every three years as a basis for future fund allocation. They also need to undergo a quality review by external experts every five years. In 2003, the Hong Kong SAR government began to allow universities to de-peg their salary systems from the salary system for civil servants, and implemented a limited "government fund matching" policy, to encourage community participation in the development of HE institutions. In terms of supervision, with a "sunshine supervision system" in place, HE institutions in Hong Kong are obliged to disclose all accounts, and meanwhile the media, the Legislative Council, the Audit Commission, and the Independent Commission Against Corruption all play a supervisory role, which combine to make it unnecessary for the Hong Kong SAR government to interfere with any financial, operational, or other internal affairs of HE institutions. Tse Chi Wai noted that in both Singapore and Hong Kong, HE institutions have the power to handle their internal affairs at their own discretion, but they are driven by their own missions and global competition, which, plus the fact that the governance structure and powers of the HE institutions are subject to relevant laws and regulations and that a set of extremely rigorous quality assurance and self-evaluation system is in place, combine to make it reasonably unlikely and difficult for HE institutions to abuse their autonomy. Tse added that government officials and university management personnel in both Singapore and Hong Kong hold that these reforms in recent years have granted more autonomy to HE institutions and have made them better equipped to pursue the goal of becoming world-class institutions. Tse further remarked that the information obtained—and the relationships established—through the 4-day visit by the task force will shed inspiringly new light on—and will be of enormous benefit to—both Charter revision and the future development of UM. Leong Heng Teng remarked that the four-day visit shows that both the governments of Hong Kong SAR and Singapore are constantly studying, reviewing and pushing ahead with the exercise of developing local HE institutions into world-class institutions. Leong added that the 4-day visit has deepened his understanding of the development and governance modes of HE institutions worldwide and the insights thus obtained are of enormous relevance to the revision of UM Charter. Lei Pui Lam noted that it is an inexorable trend worldwide to delegate power and grant more autonomy to HE institutions so they can quickly respond to international competition and the needs of society; however, that begs the question: How does one strike a balance between power delegation and accountability? The answer is putting into place a set of extremely rigorous accountability system for supervisory purposes. Lei added that given the current situation, it is necessary to review the UM Charter in order to come up with a more open Judicial Regime and Charter that can better support the future development of UM and ensure that UM is truly in line with international practices. Lei is of the opinion that in terms of the direction in which Charter revision should take, considerations should be given to the proper handling of the relationships between adhering to established principles and allowing flexibility in the concrete implementation of the principles, between delegating powers and imposing certain restrictions, and between identifying existing problems and optimizing solutions.
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