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Members of Electoral Affairs Commission take oath of office

The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election, Mr Tong Hio Fong, said today the Commission would soon call a meeting to discuss the arrangements for the election, which is to be held later this year.The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, appointed – via an Executive Order – Mr Tong Hio Fong as Chairman of the Commission. The other members of the Commission are: Mr Lai U Hou; Mr José Maria da Fonseca Tavares; Mr Kou Peng Kuan; Mr Iong Kong Leong; and Mr Chan Chi Ping Victor.The Chief Executive this afternoon presided over the swearing-in ceremony of the Commission, held at the Government Headquarters.Mr Tong told reporters that the first meeting of the Commission would be convened after the Lunar New Year holiday period. The Commission plans to hold meetings on a regular basis and would brief reporters after each meeting, he added.The Commission would first adjust its work programme according to the updated Legislative Assembly Election Law and review the work done during the last election for the Legislative Assembly, held in 2013. The dates for this year’s election and for the campaign period would be discussed at a later stage.The Commission will continue to issue in advance all guidelines and rules related to the election, to make sure that each campaign team can follow closely the Legislative Assembly Election Law. The Commission would take immediate action against any wrongdoings by campaign teams, and would also be in close communication with the Commission Against Corruption in matters related to the election process, said Mr Tong.


Public opinion important to formulate city-wide minimum wage system

The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Leong Vai Tac, today said the Government was progressing with plans – in a pragmatic manner – to launch a minimum wage system that would apply to all employees in Macao.Before launching such a system, the proposed plan would need to go through a public consultation process and the necessary legislative procedures, i.e. the Executive Council and the Legislative Assembly, Mr Leong added.Speaking to reporters today following a meeting of a Legislative Assembly committee, Mr Leong said the Government strived and hoped to create a city-wide minimum wage system, within three years of the enactment of the Law on Minimum Wage for Cleaning and Security Workers of the Property Management Industry.The Law on the Minimum Wage for Cleaning and Security Workers of the Property Management Industry came into force on 1 January, 2016.Nonetheless, an effective date for the launch of a city-wide minimum wage system would only be proposed after a public consultation, taking into consideration the opinions from different sectors of society, and in particular the comments from members of the Legislative Assembly.The Government is currently evaluating the implementation of the law on the minimum wage for cleaning staff and security workers. Once that review is completed, the Government would initiate the preliminary work for a city-wide minimum wage system, including preparatory works for a proposal for public consultation, said Mr Leong.In addition, the Secretary also made comments regarding the decline in the number of gaming promoters in Macao, saying such decrease was due to the Government’s strengthened supervision of the sector. The Government had launched stricter guidelines regulating the work of gaming promoters. This could have resulted in a number of gaming promoters deciding not to continue their activity, as they would have to face stricter rules and supervision.The Government is committed to raising the amount of capital companies are required to pledge to become eligible for a gaming promoter licence, in a bid to enhance service quality and in order to enable a healthy and orderly development of the industry.


International convention and exhibition organizations are optimistic about the future development of Macao’s convention and exhibition industry

The “13th China Expo Forum for International Cooperation” (hereinafter ‘CEFCO 2017’), as the annual distinguished event of the international convention and exhibition industry, which was hosted in a region other than mainland China for the first time, was hosted successfully in Macao in mid-January. The Forum was co-organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade & the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI), International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), and the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO), and was undertaken by the China Chamber of International Commerce and the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute. In total, it attracted more than 800 elites and high-rank individuals in the convention and exhibition industry to attend. The elites and leaders in the convention and exhibition industry from all around the world exchanged the newest information about the industry, and shared business opportunities in exchange activities such as, plenary meetings and group meetings which were held in those two days, achieving fruitful results. The “helmsmen” of the three international convention and exhibition organizations, UFI, IAEE and SISO, were also invited to the Forum in Macao, so as to share their experience in hosting conventions and exhibitions with others, and as a result there was a positive influence on the development in Macao’s convention and exhibition industry.“Facing Challenges and Endeavoring to Change” was the theme of the CEFCO 2017, which composed of three planetary meetings, four group meetings and other activities such as theme lectures, conferences, project promotion sessions. The representatives of the reputed exhibition enterprises, organizations related to the industry, professional media, and research institutions from China and overseas, as well as the representatives of the mainland competent authorities in the convention and exhibition industry, were invited to conduct discussions regarding the “Contribution of the Convention and Exhibition Industry to the Recovery of the Global Economy”, “Transformation of the Government’s Role in Advancing the Development of the Convention and Exhibition Industry”, “Channels for the Internationalization of the Convention and Exhibition Enterprises” and “Cooperation for the Innovation of the Convention and Exhibition Industry and Internet Platforms”, and so on.The international convention and exhibition organizations are optimistic about the future of Macao’s convention and exhibition industryAndreas Gruchow, the President of the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) who came to Macao for the first time, stated that in the two-day expo held this year he attended the opening ceremony, delivered a speech and participated in a series of meetings and exchange activities, during which he made lots of new friends and obtained much valuable information. In relevance to the development of Macao’s convention and exhibition industry, he was optimistic and considered Macao’s environment and facilities suitable for hosting meetings, and thus he agreed that Macao should promote with the ultimate goal of elevating Macao into a City of Events as the developmental direction for the convention and exhibition industry. He also indicated that the most important assets of a city for conventions and exhibitions are its hotels, venues, surrounding recreational facilities, and convenient transportation, all of which Macao is equipped with. Therefore, as long as the government and the related industry endeavor to promote them, polishing Macao’s descent “namecard” for conventions and exhibitions, the supply chain of Macao’s convention and exhibition industry will become well prepared.Similarly, David Dubois, the President and CEO of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) who came to Macao for the first time, stated that Macao has perfect facilities in support to conventions and exhibitions, and that Macau is capable of hosting large-scale meetings and enterprise meetings. In addition, its venues and hotels have been equipped with a full set of facilities, and are surrounded by readily available recreational and shopping sites, so that participants and their family members can enjoy their stay in their preferred ways. Thus, this is an advantage that Macao has. He is quite optimistic about Macao’s future convention and exhibition industry, believing that as CEFCO 2017 was hosted successfully, more and more international convention and exhibition organizers will recognize Macao and consequently attract more international large-scale meetings to be hosted.David Audrain, the Executive Director of the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) who had come to Macao seven years ago, came to Macao again for the forum and said he was amazed by the rapid pace of development in Macao’s infrastructure, software and hardware in support to conventions and exhibitions. Having once lived in Las Vegas, he thinks that Macao is similar to Las Vegas in many aspects such as, the magnificent hotels, venues, and the diverse and innumerous recreational activities. He suggested that Macao should learn from Las Vegas for its ways to success, and should develop strength to overcome its shortcomings. In this way, there will be a wider scope of development for Macao’s convention and exhibition industry.Large-scale convention and exhibition events to be hostedIn the next few months, more and more convention and exhibition events will be hosted in Macao consecutively. Apart from the annual event in the environmental field, “2017 Macao International Environment Co-operation Forum & Exhibition” (MIECF), there will also be “Igaming Asia Congress 2017” Convention and Exhibition, organized by the Asian entertainment and gaming industry, social platforms and mobile game companies under cross-border cooperation, “International Exposition of Intangible Cultural Heritage and Ancient Art Macao”, where reputed scholars and collectors from China and overseas cooperatively research on intangible cultural heritage, and “2017 Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Dental Association”, in which people from the medical profession from 30 countries and regions will be invited to participate. For details, please visit the Macao MICE Portal: http://www.mice.gov.mo/tc/.


Supply of Banknotes at ATMs during Chinese New Year Holidays

Having regard to the ATM cash withdrawal needs of citizens and visitors during the Chinese New Year holidays (i.e. from 28 to 31 January 2017), the Monetary Authority of Macao has urged all banks that are providing ATM services to put pertinent arrangements in place, including enhanced surveillance of the functioning of ATMs for timely replenishment of banknotes and clear display on ATMs of the 24-hour customer service hotlines. If necessary, citizens and visitors can contact the relevant banks via these hotlines.


Supply of Banknotes at ATMs during Chinese New Year Holidays

Having regard to the ATM cash withdrawal needs of citizens and visitors during the Chinese New Year holidays (i.e. from 28 to 31 January 2017), the Monetary Authority of Macao has urged all banks that are providing ATM services to put pertinent arrangements in place, including enhanced surveillance of the functioning of ATMs for timely replenishment of banknotes and clear display on ATMs of the 24-hour customer service hotlines. If necessary, citizens and visitors can contact the relevant banks via these hotlines.


Consumer Council and other departments met up to prepare for Chinese New Year

As consumption by citizens and the number of inbound tourists are expected to increase during Lunar New Year, the Consumer Council held a meeting before the festival with Economic Services Bureau (DSE), Macao Government Tourist Office (DST), Transport Bureau (DSAT), Judiciary Police (PJ), Public Security Police Force (PSP), Macao Custom Service, Civic and Municipal Affairs Council (IACM), Health Bureau (SS) and Bureau of Telecommunications Regulation (DSRT) to discuss on the protection of consumer rights for local citizens as well as inbound tourists.Consumer Council will provide special hotline service from 2.30PM to 6 PM on 27thJanuary (normal office hours in the morning), and 9 PM to 6 PM daily from 28th January to 1st February. Consumer Council’s staff will be taking consumers’ calls regarding complaints or inquiry. Consumer Council hotline: 8988 9315.Consumer Council reminds consumers to inquire about details of the products or services they desire and communicate with the shops, invoices and contracts should also be kept to safeguard their own rights. If anyone finds his or her consumer rights being infringed, he or she should file a complaint at the Council or other departments and provide all necessary detailed information.


Employment survey for October-December 2016

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for October-December 2016 held stable as in the previous period (September-November 2016), at 1.9%; the underemployment rate was 0.6%, down by 0.1 percentage point.Total labour force was 392,600 and the labour force participation rate stood at 71.8%. Total employment decreased by 500 from the previous period, at 385,000. Number of the unemployed was 7,600, similar to that in September-November 2016; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 8.9% of the total unemployed, down by 5.8 percentage points.In the fourth quarter of 2016, the general unemployment rate (1.9%) remained unchanged from the previous quarter, while the unemployment rate of local residents (2.7%) increased slightly by 0.1 percentage point. Total employment decreased by 9,200 quarter-to-quarter. Analysed by industry, employment in Construction (37,200) dropped by 7,900, following the successive completion of large-scale entertainment facilities; meanwhile, employment in Health & Social Welfare (13,400) rose by 1,600. Median monthly employment earnings of both the employed (MOP15,000) and the employed residents (MOP18,000) remained unchanged from the third quarter of 2016.For the whole year of 2016, the general unemployment rate stood at 1.9% and the unemployment rate of local residents was 2.7%, up by 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points respectively year-on-year. Median monthly employment earnings of both the employed (MOP15,000) and the employed residents (MOP18,000) stayed flat from the previous year. As regards household employment, average number of employed persons per household was 1.7 in 2016, down by 0.1 year-on-year; the median monthly employment earnings per household remained unchanged from 2015, at MOP28,000.


The nineteenth issue of C2 discusses cultural and creative opportunities for online celebrities

Published by the Cultural Affairs Bureau and produced by 100 Plus Cultural Creative Development Ltd., the nineteenth issue of the C2 Magazine will be launched on Wednesday, 1 February. Some Macao’s creative practitioners have found a way out to promote their works by becoming online celebrities. In this issue, we invite them to talk about how they have become the centre of attention on the internet.In the section“Feature”, travel writer Sio Ng shares her experience in running a fans page on facebook which eventually brought her an opportunity to publish her travelogue. New comedian duo Shoot & Chop, full-time online celebrity Carl Ao Ieong (Hou Dee), and renowned Hong Kong-based illustrator Tse Sai Pei (Jasmine Tse) also talk about how they made a name for themselves as cyberstars and their opinions about internet marketing.Macao has many souvenir and accessory shops, but only a few of them boast cultural and creative elements. Emerging brand O-Moon targeted at the market needs and has thus launched products flavoured with Macao characteristics. In the column “Brand Story”, the co-founders of O-Moon share their insight on how to tap into the market of creative merchandise and the key to successful operation and marketing. In “Opinion”, Mann Lao, Creative and Managing Director of Chiii Design Ltd. advises young designers to carefully position themselves in order to stand out in a crowded market. Mann Lao used to work in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Portugal. He returned to Macao several years ago and now is actively engaged in grooming local design talents. In “Budding Talents”, new local director Hong Heng Fai is in the spotlight. His short film Crash was nominated for the Best Live Action Short Film of the 53rdGolden Horse Awards, becoming the first work made in Macao to be nominated for that award. In this issue, he shares his views on how short films should be promoted and developed in Macao. The “Blogs” section seven columnists, Joe Tang, Ho Ka Cheng, Yi-Hsin Lin, Yap Seow Choong, Ron Lam, Lam Sio Man and Cheong Sio Pang continue to share their unique perspectives on the development of the cultural and creative industries.C2 is a trilingual magazine (in Chinese, Portuguese and English). Readers are welcome to browse or download the magazine at www.c2magazine.mo. C2 is a bimonthly magazine issued on the first Wednesday every two months. The next issue will be launched on 5 April 2017. The email subscription function is now available. Simply click the “subscribe” button on the right corner of the magazine’s webpage and enter your email address to subscribe C2 magazine. For the latest updates, you may also visit the magazine’s page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/c2magazine.macau, or on WeChat, by clicking “add friend” and inputting “c2magazine” in the ID column. For enquiries, please contact us through the email c2magazine.macau@gmail.com.


The nineteenth issue of C2 discusses cultural and creative opportunities for online celebrities

Published by the Cultural Affairs Bureau and produced by 100 Plus Cultural Creative Development Ltd., the nineteenth issue of the C2 Magazine will be launched on Wednesday, 1 February. Some Macao’s creative practitioners have found a way out to promote their works by becoming online celebrities. In this issue, we invite them to talk about how they have become the centre of attention on the internet.


UM students win second prize at national postgraduate mathematical modelling contest

A team of postgraduate students from the University of Macau (UM) Faculty of Science and Technology won a second prize at the 13th National Postgraduate Mathematic Contest in Modelling. The contest attracted nearly 9,000 teams from universities in China.The UM team was formed by PhD student Guo Li and master’s students Wu Yinwen and Kong Lingning. Led by Assistant Professor Chen Long from the Department of Computer and Information Science, the team chose the ‘genome-wide association study’ in the contest. By applying the sparse linear model, the team designed a mathematical method to find disease-related genes in the human DNA and achieved good results in the analysis of test data provided by the contest organiser.In the big data era, it has become more and more important to know how to build mathematical models that can explain data for future uses. UM places an emphasis on cultivating students’ skills in mathematical modelling. Previously, UM students won prizes in several other modelling contests, including the Contemporary Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling of China 2015, and the Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling 2016 held in the United States.


All information on this site is based on the official language of the Macao Special Administrative Region. The English version is the translation from the Chinese originals and is provided for reference only. If you find that some of the contents do not have an English version, please refer to the Traditional Chinese or Portuguese versions.