News

Delegation of the MSAR Government in Geneva of Switzerland yesterday (18th of local time) attended the United Nations Human Rights Committee Session on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In the meeting, Ambassador Liu Zhenmin, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other International Organizations in Switzerland, gave his introductory speech that, in accordance with relevant provisions under the Macao Basic Law, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with its applicable provisions to the MSAR continue to be in force after 20 December 1999, such implementation being made through the local laws enactment.
During the meeting, Head of delegation of the MSAR, Secretary for Administration and Justice – Florinda Chan, gave an overview of the major initiatives and progress made by the MSAR Government in relation to the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. She said that the MSAR Government is committed to the effective implementation of the relevant provisions of the Covenant. The principle of "One Country, Two Systems" has contributed to the enlargement of the scope of human rights in the MSAR in accordance with the Basic Law with the adoption of relevant conventions on the field of the human rights. Since the return of Macao to the People's Republic of China, social development has been on a gradual and steady progress under the joint effort of the Macao population. The Government policies stress on increasing significant resources to improve the welfare of the population, such as upgrading the Social Security Fund and Access to Education, including implementing a basic 15 years free education system and financial subsidies to local students, whilst improving medical cares and benefits for the seniors, children, students, disable, and vulnerable groups. New legislation was enacted to comply with the obligations set forth in the ICCPR, and other international instruments applicable to the MSAR on human rights and other rights have been reinforced, such as in the field of data protection, against drugs and human trafficking, labour relations, persons with disabilities, refugees, access to law and legal aid, protection of women and children. These measures have been adopted to provide adequate assistance to vulnerable persons, as well as to promote dialogue and cooperation with local non-governmental organizations in tackling relevant social issues. In respect of the monitoring and supervisory mechanisms on human rights, the judiciary bodies observe and consider whether the MSAR legal order is in conformity with international conventional law applicable to the Region. Other institutional body within the context is the Ombudsman with its main function to protect the rights, freedoms, safeguards and the legitimate interests of the individuals and to ensure the legality in the exercise of public authority, justice, and efficiency in the public administration. The MSAR Government also emphasizes on the contributions of the non-governmental organizations to strive for a harmonious livelihood, including setting up hotlines, studying the social problems and their counter-measures, promoting public-awareness of the legal system, as well as playing an intermediary role between the Government and the population. The MSAR Government maintains regular dialogues with the non-governmental organizations, and actively encourages the participation of residents in public affairs and political life, through public consultations before major policies decision-making and law drafting.
In 2012, the MSAR Government completed and amended the Methodology for the Constitution of the Legislative Assembly, the Methodology for the Selection of the Chief Executive, and their relevant local electoral laws. Such processes were consistent with the Basic Law and the reality of the MSAR where a gradual and smooth democratisation process for its political system was being undertaken. It was worth emphasizing that this was a process open to the community which received full participation of the MSAR residents and the local associations through public consultations.
Subsequently, the Deputy Head of the MSAR delegation cum Director of the Law Reform and International Law Bureau - Chu Lam Lam, briefed the MSAR's legal reform and development on human rights in response to the key questions identified by the Committee, including the application of international treaties in the Region, the freedom of speech and press, the labour relations, the fight against terrorism and measures to combat the crimes of trafficking in persons. The Chairman and members of the Committee commended on the MSAR's first report being comprehensive, informative, with detailed clarifications to their questions. It helped the Committee gain a deeper understanding of the situation of the MSAR. The Meeting will be held for two consecutive days. Other members of the MSAR delegation also include the Office of the Secretary for Administration and Justice, the Office of the Secretary for Security, the Government Information Office, the Macao Economic and Trade Office to the World Trade Organization, the Labour Affairs Bureau, the Public Security Police Force, and the Social Welfare Bureau.
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Chief Executive Mr Chui Sai On disclosed today the Central Government has praised the performance of the Macao Government and would continue to support Macao's efforts to diversify the development of its economy. Mr Chui was speaking to reporters after meeting President Mr Xi Jingqing and Premier Mr Li Keqiang, who met him with the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR, in Zhongnanhai. The two chief executives were in Beijing to attend the closing ceremony of the first session of the 12th National People's Congress. Mr Chui told reporters that the newly-elected state leaders would continue support Macao in terms of diversification of economic development and regional co-operation. Mr Chui said the leaders have advised him that while Macao was going through a good period of growth and development, he should also make contingencies for bad times. He said that the government has made preparations for bad times, such as setting up the fiscal reserve system comprised basic reserves, excess reserves and foreign reserves. Mr Chui said the government expected to have a balanced budget in the year's budget proposal, and would pay attention to its financial security and stability. In developing the economy, the government would also establish long-term mechanisms to improve people's livelihood, which is important to ensure the long-term prosperity and stability of Macao, he said. Mr Chui said that the two leaders also highlighted the importance of co-operation between the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, adding that Macao government would enhance support in two co-operative projects with the Mainland -- Hengqin in Zhuhai and Nansha in Guangzhou. The Chief-of-Cabinet of the Office of the Chief Executive, Mr Tam Chun Weng and the personal assistant to Chief Executive, Ms Goretti Tam were also present at the meetings.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fourth quarter of 2012 expanded by 8.5% year-on-year in real terms that was spurred by the impetus of exports of services and investment. Among the major components, exports of gaming services increased by 3.9%, gross fixed capital formation expanded by 21.8%, private consumption expenditure and government final consumption expenditure rose by 7.2% and 7.8% respectively, merchandise exports went up by 17.4%. For the whole year of 2012, GDP increased by 9.9% in real terms to MOP348.2 billion; per-capita GDP amounted to MOP611,930 (about USD76,588). The economic growth was fuelled by exports of services and domestic demand; in particular, exports of gaming services increased by 6.9% and total spending of visitors rose by 6.4%. In respect of domestic demand, gross fixed capital formation expanded by 19.1% on account of the upsurge in public construction; private consumption expenditure and government final consumption expenditure rose by 9.1% and 6.9% respectively, and merchandise exports rebounded sharply by 23.2%. Conducive factors to the economic expansion include:
- an increase of 13.4% in gross gaming revenue;
- a marginal rise of 0.3% in visitor arrivals and 15% increase in total spending of visitors;
- an increase of 10.8% in hotel guests;
- an upsurge of 54.8% in public investment;
- an increase of 22% in value of retail sales;
- quarterly data on median employment earnings posted increase, ranging between 13.4% and 17.0%. GDP growth in real terms for the second and third quarters of 2012 revised to 7.9% and 6.2% respectively; economic growth for 2011 revised to 21.8%. Moreover, the implicit deflator of GDP that measures overall changes in prices increased by 7.4% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2012 and 7.3% for the whole year of 2012. Principal Indicators of GDP
(* vide em anexo) As regards GDP structure by major components, relative importance of net exports of goods and services (58.6%) and domestic demand (41.4%) to GDP was identical as 2011. In view of the robust increase in public construction, relative importance of investment expanded by 0.9 percentage points to 14.7%, while percentage share of private consumption expenditure (19.9%) and government final consumption expenditure (6.8%) declined by 0.6 and 0.3 percentage points respectively.
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The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released survey results of Manpower Needs and Wages for the fourth quarter of 2012. Survey coverage comprised Wholesale & Retail Trade; Transport, Storage & Communications; Security Activities and Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities, excluding own-account workers. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2012, Wholesale & Retail Trade had 36,357 employees, up by 10.3% year-on-year, with 23,346 working in Retail trade. Average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) of full-time employees rose by 7.0% year-on-year to MOP10,880 in December 2012, with Sales representatives and Salespersons earning MOP12,100 and MOP10,230 respectively in average. Transport, Storage & Communications took on 8,606 employees, up by 6.1% year-on-year. In December, average earnings of full-time employees increased by 5.8% year-on-year to MOP17,170. Drivers of passenger/cargo transport by land earned an average of MOP20,740. Security Activities had 5,149 employees, up by 7.7% year-on-year. The average earnings of full-time employees in December rose by 7.4% year-on-year to MOP8,980, with Security guards earning MOP8,600 in average. Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities had 726 employees, up by 9.5% year-on-year. The average earnings of full-time employees in December increased by 6.7% year-on-year to MOP12,720. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2012, Wholesale & Retail Trade reported 4,238 vacancies, up by 101 year-on-year, of which 3,077 were in Retail trade. Security Activities had 948 vacancies, up by 110, while Transport, Storage & Communications offered 677 vacant posts. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, the majority of vacancies in Wholesale & Retail Trade (52.0%) and Transport, Storage & Communications (68.2%) did not require working experience. Regarding educational attainment, 79.6% of the vacancies in Security Activities and 59.0% in Wholesale & Retail Trade required junior secondary education or lower, 45.4% of those in Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities required senior secondary education or higher, and 33.4% of those in Transport, Storage & Communications required tertiary education. Besides Cantonese, Mandarin (66.8%) and English (43.0%) were more preferable language skill in Wholesale & Retail Trade, while 40.9% of those in Transport, Storage & Communications required English. In the fourth quarter of 2012, the employee turnover rate (7.3%) and the employee recruitment rate (8.5%) of Security Activities decreased by 5.5 and 3.8 percentage points year-on-year, and the job vacancy rate rose by 0.7 percentage points to 15.8%, indicating that the outflow of human resources showed improvement but many of the vacancies were unoccupied still.
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To celebrate the 15th anniversary of 'Consumer Arbitration Centre', a carnival will be held by Consumer Council this Saturday from 3PM to 5PM at the leisure area on Rua Quatro do Bairro Iao Hon. In order to promote the Regulations and services of 'Consumer Arbitration Centre' to the public, Consumer Council holds several carnivals in different local communities on Saturdays in March. Two carnivals have already been held at Vasco da Gama Garden and Largo de Camões in Taipa in the past two weeks. Participants learnt about consumer rights and services of the Arbitration Centre through various on-site games. Consumer Council will hold another carnival on 16th March at the leisure area on Rua Quatro do Bairro Iao Hon from 3PM to 5PM. On-site quiz games, booth games and information about the Arbitration Centre will be exhibited during the event. For inquiry, please call 8988-9315.
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The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP132.6 billion (USD16.60 billion) at the end of February 2013. The reserves fell by 3.2% from the revised value of MOP137.0 billion (USD17.15 billion) for the previous month. When compared with a year earlier, the reserves increased by MOP5.9 billion or 4.7%. Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves at end-February 2013 represented 17 times the currency in circulation or 135.8% of Pataca M2 at end-January 2013. 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, rose by 0.44 points month-to-month and 0.73 points year-on-year to 97.36 in February 2013. For enquiry, please contact:
Research and Statistics Department, Monetary Authority of Macao (Tel: 83952532; Fax: 28353042)
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Invited by ASEAN Retail-Chains & Franchise Federation (ARFF), a business delegation led by Ms. Echo Chan, Executive Director of Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), including representatives from Macau Chain Stores & Franchise Association and the Association of Advertising Agents of Macau (organiser and co-ordinator of "Macao Franchise Expo 2013") went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to participate in the "ASEAN Franchise Expo & Symposium 2013"(AFES 2013) from 7-9 March 2013. The objectives of the trip was as to foster exchanges and co-operation with franchise and retail chain industries of the ASEAN region, as well as promoting the upcoming "Macao Franchise Expo 2013"(2013MFE). Organised by the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism of Malaysia (KPDNKK) and ASEAN Retail-Chains & Franchise Federation (ARFF) and supported by Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), the "ASEAN Franchise Expo & Symposium 2013" was held from 8 to 10 March at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. There were a total of 80 booths set up in the exhibition. Besides local Malaysian brands, enterprises and associations including those from mainland China, Australia, Indonesia Japan, and Singapore took part representing food and beverage, retail, beauty products, education, and information technology sectors to name a few participated in AFES 2013. The opening ceremony of AFES 2013 was presided by Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri Bin Yaakob, Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism, and representatives from various ASEAN countries. During the visit to Macao Pavilion at the exhibition, Ms. Echo Chan, Executive Director of IPIM introduced the current Macau trade and investment environment and activities organised by IPIM to Dato' Ismail Sabri, including 2013 MFE to be held from 12 to 14 July, the Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum & Exhibition (MIECF) and Macao International Trade And Investment Fair (MIF). ARFF, the AFES 2013 organiser, expressed interest in participating in 2013MFE to promote brand co-operation opportunities for its member companies. Some exhibitors from food and beverage, food manufacturing, information technology, healthcare and beauty industries wished to make use of Macao and the MFE exhibition platform to explore the mainland China market. In addition, the Macao delegation attended the "ASEAN Outstanding Business Award 2013"and exchanged information and made connections with representatives from Malaysian franchise and retail chain industries. The Macau delegation also paid courtesy visits to Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), Malaysian Franchise Association (MFA) and Malaysian Retailer-Chains Association (MRCA), during which Ms. Echo Chan gave a presentation on collaboration between Malaysia and Macao, trade, the business and economic development of Macao, as well as tax and CEPA incentive arrangements. Ms. Chan also encouraged Malaysian enterprises to take part in exhibitions in Macau, and utilise the Macao regional business platform as a gateway for Malaysian brands to open up business opportunities in mainland China and Portuguese-speaking countries. Mr. Tim Sio, Vice Director-General of the Macau Chain Stores & Franchise Association expressed his desire to search for suitable partners in Malaysia, hence strengthening collaboration between Malaysia and Macao. Mr. Osborn Lo, Vice Director-General of the Association of Advertising Agents of Macau hoped to gain information and a deeper understanding on the Malaysian franchise industry, to improve future co-operation opportunities through stronger ties with ASEAN enterprises. Organised by the Malaysian Franchise Association (MFA) and Malaysian Retailer-Chains Association (MRCA), the delegation also conducted site visits to several renowned brands including Bonia (Leather bag and shoes), Tutti Frutti (Frozen yogurt) and Zell-V (Healthcare products), in order to gain a deeper understanding of Malaysian franchise and retail chain operation and management.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, is scheduled to leave for Beijing on 16 March to attend the closing ceremony of the 12th National People's Congress on 17 March. The Chief-of-Cabinet of the Office of the Chief Executive, Mr Tam Chun Weng, the Secretary-General of the Executive Council, Ms O Lam and the Director of the Government Information Bureau, Mr Chan Chi Ping will take part in the visit. Mr Chui and his delegation will return Macao on 19 March. The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Tam Pak Yuen, will be Acting Chief Executive while Mr Chui is away.
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) holds spring banquets today and tomorrow in Taiwan for Macau tourism promotion and exchange with local travel trade. MGTO hosts the local trade and media representatives for spring banquets in Taipei and Taichung on February 14 and 15 consecutively. Exchange and networking are enhanced during the banquets, where the delegation takes the opportunity to present Macau's latest tourism development and products, aiming to extend the length of Taiwanese visitors' stay in Macau. MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Head of Macau Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan, China, Nadia Leong Kit Chi and Head of Destination Marketing Department of MGTO, Betty Fok attend the above functions. Fernandes expressed that Taiwan has always ranked as the third largest tourist market for Macau. Taiwanese visitor arrivals to Macau surpassed 1,070,000 last year though the number dropped in comparison with 2011. It was nonetheless delightful to see the number of Taiwanese visitors staying overnight in Macau continuously growing each year and marking a rise of 2.6% in 2012. The proportion of Taiwanese visitors to overall overnight-stay visitors increased year-on-year by 5% in 2012, suggesting that Macau has gradually transformed from a transit station into a tourist destination in the Taiwanese's perspective, a goal MGTO has long strived to reach. According to the statistics provided by Statistics and Census Bureau, the number of Taiwanese overnight-stay visitors in Macau hit 414,718 in 2012, a year-on-year growth of 2.6%. The average length of Taiwanese visitors' stay was 1.76 night. Hotel overnight guests from Taiwan reached 362,707, of which 73.7% checked-in at 5-Star hotels. The latest provisional figures show that the number of Taiwanese visitors staying overnight in Macau maintained a growing trend in the first two months of 2013, a period-on-period escalation of 5.0%. The remarkable percentage once again proves that Taiwan is a market worth unremitting dedication and still demonstrating great potential for development. This year marks the upcoming 25th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest and the 60th Macau Grand Prix. MGTO will commingle Macau festivities, cultural attractions and modern tourist facilities together, promoting diversely-themed tours to enchant visitors of different nationalities to Macau at different times of the year so that they can experience Macau's composite aroma of East and West, trendy and antique. With the strategic positioning of Macau's development as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure, MGTO will continue its promotional theme "Touching Moments･Experience Macau". With the highlighted concept of "365 days a year, every day is good to visit Macau", MGTO encourages every consumer in Macau to embrace his/her unique touching moments. The office will also enhance its cooperation with airlines and travel agencies in the Taiwan market, suggesting fun ways of exploring Macau and various itineraries including cultural, festive and shopping routes tailor-made for different visitor categories such as "family visitor", "office worker", "female segment", "newlywed" and "silver peer" so that they can explore Macau at any time the way they like. As the hub of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau tourism region, Macau will continue to widen and deepen its collaboration with neighboring regional destinations and its promotion of multi-destination itinerary products this year. In active pursuit of extending the length of visitors' stay in Macau, MGTO will focus on six work highlights this year as follows: 1. Sum up planning and research, deepen tourism and leisure system; 2. Optimize industry management and training, actively promote quality tourism; 3. Develop cultural tourism products, promote events and festivals; 4. Support community tourism, strengthen public communication; 5. Innovate promotional techniques, explore new markets; 6. Participate in international organizations, strengthen regional cooperation. In terms of community tourism, MGTO will initiate the "Development Plan for Community Tourism", a scheme to develop community tourism in cooperation with local associations. The highlights include guidebook publication, cultural festivals and cultivation of travel information systems. The scheme enables visitors to explore different districts in Macau and encounter extraordinary features of Macau. In addition, MGTO has launched the Beta (trial) version of MGTO's brand-new website (http://beta.macautourism.gov.mo/index.php?lang=en) and will introduce more Smartphone travel applications to facilitate visitors' convenient access to extensive travel tips. Currently there are 5 airline companies which operate flights between Macau and Taiwan, together providing over 126 direct flights weekly from Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung to Macau. The flight service is frequent and convenient for visitors.
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IFT Tourism Research Centre (ITRC) released the inaugural report on its latest major research project - the Macao Human Resource Monitoring Survey (MHRM). The MHRM Survey aims to fill the gap in knowledge of information of the Macao's labor force such as employees' level of job satisfaction, job stress, intention-to-quit and organisational loyalty measures, as well as satisfaction with a host of occupational and work conditions such as benefits, opportunities for advancement, inter-relationships at work, etc. with focuses on the tourism, hospitality and gaming industries. Information are gathered and analysed for industry leaders and the general public to reply on in regard to understanding issues surrounding the labor force. Findings of the MHRM Survey will be released twice a year. The first issue of MHRM report can be requested at this link http://www.ift.edu.mo/itrc/MHRM.html For any enquiry, please email to iftpr@ift.edu.mo
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