News

The completion of the third-term Legislative Assembly elections of the MSAR has again demonstrated the ongoing implementation of the principles of “One country, two systems”, “Macao people governing Macao”, and “A high degree of autonomy”. Macao’s citizens enthusiastically exercised their civic rights in accordance with the Basic Law of the Macao SAR and relevant electoral laws. Twenty-two Macao citizens were elected to the new Legislative Assembly. Other candidates, although unsuccessful in the election, had demonstrated great commitment. On behalf of the MSAR Government, I wish to extend my regards to all the candidates and to congratulate the ones who were elected. The electoral process effectively facilitated the development of civic education in our society. The large-scale canvassing activities during the election deepened the people’s understanding of the nature and the political manifestos of various groups of candidates and added to the election’s significance. The record numbers of candidate groups and voters, demonstrated stronger civic awareness. At the successful conclusion of the third-term Legislative Assembly elections, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the entire community, the Election Commission, all relevant departments and every member of the election staff. At the same time, I wish to assure you that the MSAR Government will continue, as always, to maintain close communication and good cooperation with the Legislative Assembly so that we may all jointly contribute to Macao’s continued development.
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The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Florinda Chan, today called on all the registered voters to fulfill their right and responsibility by turning out and cast their votes today’s Legislative Assembler election. Ms Chan said she hoped voters would not be put off by the inclement weather and to actively take part the election. She also urged them to comply with the rules in force at the polling station. Ms Chan cast her vote in the Sacred Heart Cannosian College polling station about 10 am today. She then inspected the polling station after the staff briefed her on the progress of voting in the morning. She said the Legislative Assembly Election Commission would submit a report to the Government after the completion of polling and the Government would review the whole process and take into account public opinion. Earlier in the morning, Commissioner Against Corruption Mr Cheong U also cast his vote in the same polling station. He reporters that the people of Macao had become more conscious of their civic right and responsibility. Mr Cheong said promotion and public education would be a continuing exercise in public education.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, today urged registered voters to vote and elect legislators who can truly represent Macao. Mr Ho made the call after he had cast his vote at the polling station in the Instituto Salesiano this morning. He said he hoped all the registered voters would vote in today’s election, which is an important part of the political life of Macao, elect legislators who could truly represent Macao and contribute to the success of “One Country Two Systems”.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service showed that Composite CPI for August 2005 was 99.27, up by 0.45% compared with July 2005. Due to the increase in housing rent, rising prices in outbound package tours and air tickets during summer holidays, as well as in gasoline that was affected by price increase of petroleum in the international market; consequently, indices of Rent and housing expenses, Other goods and services, and Transport and communications rose by 2.04%, 1.26% and 0.97% respectively. On the other hand, continuous price reduction in summer clothing and footwear, and lower prices in fresh vegetables led to decrease in the indices of Clothing and footwear (-1.43%), and Foodstuff and beverages (-0.83%). Composite CPI for August 2005 recorded a significant year-on-year increase of 4.96%. For the 12 months ended August 2005, the average Composite CPI rose by 3.37% over the previous period. Average Composite CPI for January to August 2005 increased by 3.85% over the same period of 2004. In comparison with July 2005, CPI(A) and CPI(B) increased by 0.41% and 0.45% respectively. CPI(A) relates to 54% of households, which had an average monthly expenditure of MOP3,000 - MOP9,999. CPI(B) relates to 26% of households, which had an average monthly expenditure of MOP10,000 - MOP19,999.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that, in light of the summer holidays, number of visitor arrivals reached 1,732,083 in August 2005, another all-time record registered in a single month, up 7.1% year-on-year. Visitors from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, China increased 5.1%, 6.4% and 14.1% respectively. Meanwhile, same-day visitors accounted for 51.1% of the total arrivals, at 884,623. The majority of visitors came from Mainland China (54.3% of the total), Hong Kong (32.5%) and Taiwan, China (8.0%). Among the Mainland visitors, 520,133 (55.3%) travelled to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme. In the first eight months of 2005, visitor arrivals totalled 12,321,130, up 13.3% over the same period of last year. Visitors from Mainland China increased 10.0% to 6,843,974 (55.5% of the total), with 3,534,897 arriving in Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme. Moreover, visitors from Hong Kong and Taiwan, China shared 30.3% (3,736,529) and 8.3% (1,021,777) of the total respectively. Same-day visitors accounted for 52.2% of the total, at 6,428,418. Analyzed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by sea went up 5.0% year-on-year to 4,416,976 in the first eight months of 2005, with 4,304,000 arriving at the Outer Harbour (+4.5%); the majority of these visitors were from Hong Kong (59.9%) and Mainland China (29.3%). Visitor arrivals at the Inner Harbour rose 31.8% to 112,976, within which 69.2% were from Mainland China. In the first eight months of 2005, arrivals by land increased 17.4% to 7,206,306, with 6,634,814 arriving through the Border Gate. The majority of these visitors came from Mainland China (76.9%) and Hong Kong (16.5%). Visitor arrivals through the Checkpoint of CoTai were 571,492. In addition, arrivals by air were 697,848, up 30.7% compared with the same period of last year, with 690,169 arriving at the Macao International Airport (+32.1%). Visitors from Taiwan, China (70.2%) and Mainland China (15.7%) were the major users of this access.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Wah, today stressed that the MSAR Government had done much against money laundering in accordance with international practice. He said legislation had been drafted to stop people using Macao for their illegal activities and the draft would be submitted to the Legislative Assembly later in the year, when the legislative year re-opened after the election on 25 September. The SAR Government attached much importance to the healthy operation of both the financial and the gaming sectors, he said. Mr Ho pointed out that the MSAR had always acted in line with the Central Government’s directive that Macao followed internationally accepted practice, especially in developing and monitoring the gaming industry after liberalising the industry. When asked about the effect of the US Government’s allegation’s on a bank, Mr Ho said that it would be expected that Macao’s image would be affected in some way. But he was confident that Macao would rise from the incident and enhance itself. “It is a part of the process in a new economic development. I’m certainly not too worried that there will be any prolonged negative impact,” Mr Ho said.
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Immigration authorities recorded a total of 787,847 crossing the five immigration checkpoints of the Macao SAR over the holidays ( to ) Total number of arrivals stood at 390,470;
with Border-gate: 311,867;
Lotus Bridge: 1,639;
Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal: 66,085;
Inner Harbor Wharf Nº14: 2,764;
Macao International Airport: 8,115. Total of departures stood at 397,377;
with Border-gate: 321,255;
Lotus Bridge: 1,877;
Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal: 63,784;
Inner Harbor Wharf Nº14: 2,440;
Macao International Airport: 8,021. Meanwhile, total number of tourists arrival in that period stood at 155,309. Among those, tourist arrival in the day of the festival and the following day stood at 104,072
,with a growth of 32.10% over the same period of last year. (Mid-Autumn Festival festival and the following day in 2004 was Tuesday and Wednesday respectively).
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that in 2004, there were 130 travel agencies in operation, up by 8 establishments compared with 2003. Benefited with the further relaxation of the Individual Visit Scheme in Mainland China and the opening of new casinos, significant increases were recorded in the number of visitor arrivals and outbound travel of Macao residents, while business operation of the travel agencies in 2004 was comparatively better than 2003. For instance, sales and other receipts (MOP 1.863 billion), gross value added (MOP 145 million) and gross fixed capital formation (MOP 58.43 million) showed increases of 37.3%, 0.9% and 143.1% respectively. Total number of persons engaged in the industry was 1,413 as at the end of 2004, up 12.4% over the preceding year; among them 1,351 (95.6%) were paid employees. Expenditure of the travel agencies in 2004 amounted to MOP 1.823 billion, a remarkable growth of 40.1% over 2003. In terms of expenditure items, payment for the purchase of tickets, package tours and room reservation took a predominant share of 87.4% of the total, with MOP 1.593 billion; operating expenses and compensation of employees accounted for MOP 121 million and MOP 107 million, which increased by 39.4%, 75.6% and 20.2% compared with 2003 respectively.
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Statistics and Census Services released the results of Manpower Needs and Wages Survey for the second quarter of 2005, the survey coverage included Wholesale & Retail Trade and Transport, Storage & Communications (except Travel Agencies), but excludes all own-account workers in these two industries. Information on the number of employees, earnings and number of vacancies was extrapolated based on the results obtained from 795 statistical units successfully interviewed, as follows: At the end of the second quarter of 2005, a total of 18,906 paid employees were working in Wholesale & Retail Trade, within which 10,422 were in Retail Trade. Compared with the same period of 2004, number of paid employees in Wholesale & Retail Trade increased 10.1%. In June 2005, average earnings (excluding year-end bonuses, holiday allowances, profit-sharing bonuses and other similar bonuses) for full-time employees in Wholesale & Retail Trade was MOP 6,254, up by 7.6% over the same period of 2004. Transport, Storage & Communications took on 7,350 paid employees, within which 2,292 were working in Supporting and Auxiliary Transport Activities, 2,291 were in Post & Telecommunications and 1,434 were in Land Transport. Compared with the same period of 2004, number of paid employees in Transport, Storage & Communications increased 7.1%. In June 2005, the average monthly earnings for full-time employee in Transport, Storage & Communications was MOP 10,955, which increased by 4.7% compared with the same period of 2004. At the end of June 2005, Wholesale & Retail Trade reported to have 1,924 vacancies, of which 1,264 vacancies were in Retail Trade. In addition, Transport, Storage & Communications had 555 vacancies, of which 331 posts were in Land Transport. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 55.6% of the vacant posts in Wholesale & Retail Trade required working experience, while 36.8% in Transport, Storage & Communications required the same. In Wholesale & Retail Trade, 60.8% of the vacant posts required junior secondary or lower in educational attainment, while 28.3% of the vacant posts in Transport, Storage & Communications opted toward senior secondary or higher education. Besides Cantonese, Mandarin was more preferred in Wholesale & Retail Trade, at 50.8%; however, no particular language requirement was needed in Transport, Storage & Communications (31.6%).
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Beginning tomorrow, September 20, at 6:30 pm, in the Legal and Judicial Training Centre (Luso-International Bank Building, 10th floor) is a Seminar on “Current Problems of European Media Law”. As part of the Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field between the European Union and Macao, this training course will have as speakers Udo Fink, Director of the School of German Law and the School of Polish Law at the Uniwersytet Jagiellonski Krakau, in Cracow, Poland, and Professor at Johannes Gutenberg University, in Mainz, Germany, and Dieter Dörr, Director of Mainz Media Institute and Professor at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. This seminar will take place until Friday, September 23, between 6:30 and 8:30 pm, daily. Throughout the four days the approached subjects are “Free Flow of Information in Europe”, “Media Control in European Member States”, “European Law of Subsidies and Financing of Broadcasting in European Member States” and “Broadcasting Quotas through European Guidelines”. The seminar is organised by the Legal and Judicial Training Centre and particularly targets legal advisers, journalists and other professionals of the media. It will be conducted in English. The Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field between the European Union and Macao, which incorporates this seminar, has as its main objective the “Consolidation of the Macao Legal System” and is currently in its fourth year. The total budget for the programme is of 1.980.000 euros, shared in equal parts by the European Union and Macao. The co-ordination of the Co-operation Programme is at the responsibility of the International Law Office, being the organisation of the pertaining actions ensured by several other entities of the MSAR’s Government, namely the Legal and Judicial Training Centre, the Legal Affairs Bureau, the Economic Services and the Institute of European Studies, other than the International Law Office itself.
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