Hosted by the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the 2012 Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum & Exhibition (2012MIECF) was satisfactory concluded today (March 31). Total number of visitors to the 3-day event exceeded 8500, of which 6400 were professional visitors. Today is designated as "Green Public Day" and over 2000 persons visited the venue. A total of 35 cooperation documents were signed, to further reinforce MIECF´s role as a green platform to boost green business and technology development. Macao Trade and Investment and Promotion Institute (IPIM) and Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) are the Host Co-ordinators for the event. This year´s edition of the MIECF adopted the theme "Green Economy – New Engine New Growth", to promote the "Thinking Green, Going Clean, Living Cool" spirit. A total of 703 environmental projects from more than twenty countries and regions were received, up 13% from last year. 702 business matching sessions were held, an 22.3% increase when compared with last year, including 362 sessions relating to green hotel procurement, as well as 92 business matching sessions participated by government agencies, with 9 local government departments participating in procurement matchings. During the 3-day event, 35 cooperation documents were signed, up 13.0% from last year. 62% of the signing parties were from Macau, and the rest from Mainland China, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Brazil and various countries and regions, involving products and services such as cooperation in environmental technology, waste recovery and recycling, manufacture and sale of environmental products, energy conservation projects, transformation of electric vehicles, eco-tourism, education and training, as well as other sectors and fields. This demonstrates the effective role played by the MIECF as a platform for the promotion of exchanges between companies in the environmental field, not only from the neighbouring regions, but from other parts of the world as well. The Executive Director of Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute(IPIM), Mrs. Irene K. V. Lau said that, in view of the current world´s focus regarding environmental issues, after five years of continuously development, MIECF has reached a new level, both in scale and influence. She added that various countries and regions around the globe participate in this edition of the MIECF, and this will be positive for the projection of the international status of Macao in the field of environmental protection. Besides, Host Co-ordinators have endeavoured to improve the quality of the event, especially in the business matching aspect and many exhibitors have reflected their positive feedbacks on those improvements, namely the business matching with the right counter-parties, as well as in efficiency and quality. The international level of this edition of the MIECF has also been improved, with the participation of 398 companies and organizations, from 28 countries and regions as exhibitors, a 20% increase in relation to the past edition. Enterprises from Thailand, Cambodia and Nigeria participated in the MIECF for the first time. Also, many internationally renowned enterprises displayed their latest products and advanced technology giving the environmental industry operators an opportunity to avail of the MIECF platform to explore the latest trends of the environmental protection industry in the world market.
In addition to the exhibition and business matching activities, a series of green forums were held concurrently, having invited a number of international pioneers in the environmental field as keynote speakers, including Mr. Andrew Bowerbank, Council Member of GMF of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, who was the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony. In his speech, Mr. Bowerbank stressed that architecture and climate change are closely related and that it would be necessary for our generation to make changes, by improving and making good use of green building. Mr. Bowerbank also introduced some new concepts, including bionics, "vertical farms" and synthetic biology, among others.
Another keynote speaker, Mr. Chris Zijdeveld, President of "Dutch Passive Housing Foundation", stressed in his keynote speech that, as far as environmental protection is concerned, transportation and constructions are two large areas for which we should pay special attention to. He made an appeal for the public to use collective low-carbon means of transport, such as the tram and rail systems, and reduce the use of private cars, and also to use environmentally friendly design and construction materials to improve ventilation and heating and thus reduce the use of air-conditioning and heater so as to save in oil and electricity consumption. The Deputy Director of Environmental Protection Bureau of Macao SAR Governemnt, Ms. Vong Man Hung said a total of six sessions were held under the MIECF Forum, as follows: "Green Business Forum", "Why Green Buildings is the Key Player in Developing Sustainable Environments", "Green Finance and Green Investment / Risk Management", "Environmental Policy and Low Carbon Economic Development", "Techniques and Equipments for Environmental Industry: Business Opportunigies" and "Green Chemical Forum", having invited 55 speakers from 14 countries and regions, namely, Mainland China, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Chile, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong and Macao to deliver their speeches and share with audience their insights and vision in the environmental field. She said that, starting with green economy, in-depth discussions were held in the areas of green building, green finance, investment, risk management and environmental policy, and that such discussions is particularly useful for the participants to get an in-depth understanding of the latest technology in environmental protection and to provide to the companies with new ideas for the development of the green industry. The number of participants for all the different sessions of the Forum this year reached 1,200. On the other hand, over 2000 visitors joined the MIECF to participate in the Green Public Day activities. As in the past, parent-child activities were programmed, such as environmental workshop, green art, parent-child games booth and educational electronic screen games, to interact in an interesting way, as a means to encourage the public to make good use of resources, and to convey the message that environmental protection is part of our way of living. As part of the Green Public Day activity, guided tours were on hand to explain the concept of the MIECF, division of the venue by zones and other characteristics. This year, about 260 teachers and students from seven green schools were invited to visit the MIECF. At the Green Public Day, test drive in electric cars was arranged, in order to give the public an opportunity to experience electric vehicle in actual road conditions. In addition, the Environment Protection Bureau has set-up a "Green Fun" application booth, to encourage local residents to join in this points accumulation program. About 150 visitors applied to become member today. Since its inception in 2008, five editions of the MIECF were successfully organized. The quality of the event has since continuously improved, to fully demonstrate that MIECF has become an important platform for the development of green industries in the Pan-PRD Region and Southern China as a whole. The next edition of the MIECF is scheduled for March 21-23, 2013.
