The four-day 14th Macao International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF), has come to a close today, 25th October 2009. The 15th Macao International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF) will be held from 21st to 24th October 2010. Conclusion of activities Considering the organizational scale, no. of participating countries and regions, and radiative impact, the 14th MIF has been the largest ever. As at 3:00 PM this afternoon (25th October), over 60,000 visits were registered, representing an increase of more than 21 % compared with the approximate 50,000 visitors last year, of which more than 8,000 being trade visitors, up more than 43 % year-on-year. A total of 1,032 sessions of business matching were conducted. Over the last 4 days, 60 letters of intent/memorando/agreements were signed, valued at approximately MOP 4.3 billion. During the period, a total of 36 forums, conferences, seminars & presentations were held with 5,335 attendees. The scale of this year’s MIF regarding the no. of booths increased by 20%. Including the co-located Wine and Gourmet Asia, there were altogether 644 exhibitors coming from 48 countries and regions comprising 1,074 booths. Not only the scale of the exhibition has been expanded, a number of new, independent overseas pavilions such as ASEAN and Russian Far East have more enriched and extensive contents, highlighting the theme of internationalization. This year, the exhibition area for specialized trades has also been expanded with the addition of pavilions for creative industry pavilion and digital photography. In respect of expansion, there has been a more detailed classification for type of business. Not only the contents are enriched, the themes for the various pavilions have been more concentrated and specialized, thus enhancing the attractiveness to trade visitors. During the period, numerous sessions of conferences, forums and business matching as well as product and service promotion activities have been held, with encouraging response. The opening ceremony of MIF has been officiated by Mr. Edmund Ho, Chief Executive of Macao SAR and was attended by a record number of over 3,000 guests from 61 countries and regions. In the conferences and forums, speakers included government officials, business leaders, industrial elite, experts and scholars, who have elevated the professionalism and results of exchange. In the “International Trade and Investment Forum 2009”, representatives and business leaders from numerous overseas countries and regions get together to explore regional trade and economic investment and cooperation. The 6th Summit of Chinese Entrepreneurs has been attended by over 1,000 trade visitors from across the world to gather in Macao to exchange and discuss the business opportunities in the Greater China region. The number of participants has been the highest with the widest representation in terms of participating regions. During the Fair, there have been a series of economic and trade seminars between Macao and Vietnam, the Philippines, European Union, Latin America, Portuguese-speaking countries and Mainland China. Participants from different countries and regions presented enthusiastically the economic and trade development conditions and industrial policies of their own country or region. It is intended that through the exchange platform provided by the seminars, the countries and regions are able to promote their economic image as well as economic and trade exchange and cooperation for joint development. During these exchange seminars, a number of cooperation agreements or strategic cooperation memorandums for a wide array of industries within the region have been reached. Looking back at the various forums, conferences and commercial promotion seminars of this year’s MIF, when compared with past years, the number of participants and their respective levels, and the number of countries have been increased year after year, resulting more fruitful results. It can been seen that Macao’s internationalized platform and MIF as a service platform for specialized, international exchange have gained more and more international recognition. Business matching and agreement signing Prior to and during the 14th MIF, the Organiser has received a total of 2,404 business matching projects (a year-on-year increase of 1.74%), which include 1,819 investment cooperation projects, 158 franchising and chain store brands, 300 supplies projects, 69 buyers with 127 procurement projects. During the fair, a total of 1,032 on-site business matching sessions (up 20% year-on-year) were arranged which brought about business partnerships, which include 371 procurement meetings (35.95%), 304 sessions for products/services supplies (29.46%), 141 franchising/brand distribution (13.66%), 179 specialized matching sessions (17.34%) and 37 sessions for investment projects (3.59%). As at 3:00 PM (25th Oct), a total of 60 projects (up 62.16% year-on-year) have been signed (including the ones signed off-site as informed by Organiser), valued at approximately MOP 4.3 billion, (up 22.88% year-on-year) , including “21 agreements, 20 letters of intention, 13 agreements and 6 memorandums, including 20 items for product/service supplies, 3 items for franchising, 6 items for brand distribution, 22 investment cooperation projects, and 9 other items. The business areas included manufacturing, electronics, product distribution, convention and exhibition, real estate, catering and training, supermarket cooperation, environmental protection, investment project, hotel and travel, entertainment, telecommunications software, convention and exhibition, medicine, and friendly cooperation between governments and trade associations. Signing countries include Macao, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, Brazil, Japan, Romania, the Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, Singapore, etc. Summarising the business matching and agreements signed during the MIF this year, the position of MIF in regional economic and trade exchange service shall be to continue serving Macao’s SMEs to utilize Macao’s platform, in a variety of flexible business forms to deepen Macao’s economic diversification and reinforce the role of a regional platform, enhance external economic exchange, promoting cooperation of the market of China with the counterparts in ASEAN, EU and Portuguese-speaking countries. Multiple results In the past decade, MIF has been grounded upon Macao’s own economic characteristics and advantages in accordance with the SAR government’s development strategy of economic diversification to adjust and enrich the theme and contents of the Fair. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Macao SAR, the MIF this year has reinforced the contents of display and exchange. Macao Pavilion has presented a general review of Macao’s development and achievements in the past decade by demonstrating to the world Macao’s social stability and prosperity, rapid economic development, the image of the further internationalization of an exchange platform. Macao Manufactures and Trades Pavilion has employed many different means of display to exhibit the products made in Macao and products with agents in Macao, thus solidifying the promotion of Macao’s commerce and industry and developing jointly new business opportunities. MIF has been dedicated to serving SMEs. During the “SMEs International Business Days”, a lot of SMEs were attracted to take part in business matching and presentations. This year, the SME Exhibition has received good responses, with 143 exhibitors, who have displayed and put on sale a vast variety of projects and services to open the Mainland and overseas markets, attracting a great many visitors and residents. The number of booths has increased by 50% with satisfaction results both in display and sale. The Exhibition which is widely popular with the local SMEs, general public and visitors, remains a highlight of the MIF. Last year, Wine and Gourmet Asia (WGA)became a partner fair of MIF. This year, WGA has co-located with MIF for the first time. By way of synergistic effect, both Fairs attract trade visitors of each other and the results have been prominent. During the event, WGA has brought 2,041 more trade visitors to MIF, while MIF has arranged almost 100 business matching sessions, and provided more business opportunities and visitors to the WGA. The newly introduced “One-Trip, Multi-Stop” service have brought in more cooperation and mutual benefits to other fairs in the region, including “China Yiwu International Commodities Fair”, “106th China Import and Export Fair” and “Shenzhen Toys and Gifts Fair”. A total of 1,020 trade visitors have participated in MIF through this service. The Organiser has also arranged one-stop coaches in the region and organized trades visitors from Macao, Portuguese-speaking countries, South East Asia and other overseas countries to participate in the 14th MIF. The MIF has been concerned about the global issue of “resources bottleneck” and is putting an emphasis on the “green” theme of ecological environmental protection by using recyclable building materials and promoting an image of “green exhibition”. Almost 80% of the booths have special decoration, of which over 60% are using recyclable materials and every effort has been made to economize material usage. When MIF is over, the entities concerned will collect the materials used in the booths and turn them back into usable forms. With the evolution of MIF as Macao’s brand name fair, Macao’s convention and exhibition industry also developed at a fast pace. This year’s MIF, in terms of organization, booth construction, exhibition service, has seen a greater participation by local enterprises. Looking at the results of the MIF this year, it proves that Macao’s convention and exhibition industry’s competency has been gradually raised and catching up with international standards. Survey This year’s MIF has entrusted the University of Macao to conduct a survey to collect data for future reference. The report of the survey will be announced shortly.
