News

The total number of motorcycle parking space will go up by 10,000 to 45,000 by the end of the year as the Government continues to seek ways to accommodate the needs of motorcyclists. The Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Mr Lau Si Io, disclosed this today when he spoke to the press at a reception. Mr Lau said that as more parking lots are to open soon, he believed that the shortage could then be alleviated to some extent. But he stressed that the Government had to reasonably allocate limited public space and that the shortage could not be solved by simply increasing their numbers.
…

The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Francis Tam Pak Yuen, re-iterated today that the Government would safeguard the stability of Macao's financial system. He said he believed that Macao's banking and financial industry had a bright prospect, given its booms in recent years. Speaking to the press at a reception, Mr Tam said the Government is to return the management of Banco Delta Asia to the management team appointed by its shareholders tomorrow. To safeguard the stability of the overall financial system of Macao, the Government would continue to support Banco Delta Asia to uphold the interests of its depositors, he said. Taking into account the rapid growth of Macao's economy in recent years, Mr Tam said he expected that the expansion of the banking and financial industry would continue for some time.
…

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) presented the Gold Awards and Grand Awards to the winners today in Indonesia. Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) was granted one of this year’s Pacific Asia Travel Association “best-of-show” awards: the Grand Award for Heritage. A special luncheon was held in Bali to present a total of four Grand Awards in different categories and 24 Gold Awards. Among them, MGTO was granted the Grand Award for Heritage, received by Deputy Director of MGTO Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes. PATA’s Grand Award for Heritage was given to MGTO for its “2006 Macau World Heritage Year” campaign “that positioned Macau as a destination offering travelers much more than entertainment and gaming”, according to the organization’s winners announcement statement. “The campaign successfully boosted the economic value of the city’s rich heritage by positioning and promoting its ‘historic centre’ as a must-see attraction”, PATA justified. MGTO’s statement said that the Macau Government Tourist Office is honored to receive this prestigious PATA Grand Award for Heritage for our ‘2006 Macau World Heritage Year’ campaign, and the award is a great honor and incentive to all MGTO’s efforts in attempting to bring more awareness to the city’s unique heritage. The award signifies a strong recognition of MGTO’s determination and continuous effort in promoting the unique ‘Historic Centre of Macau’” Following the successful inscription of “The Historic Centre of Macau” on the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2005, MGTO launched the “2006 Macau World Heritage Year” campaign. Throughout the year, by means of a variety of activities organized both locally and in visitor source markets, MGTO promoted the legacy of its more than 400 years of Chinese and Portuguese cultural exchanges. This is the second time that MGTO receives the PATA Grand Award, after having been granted a Grand Award for Marketing with the 2001 “’Macau Welcomes You’ Passport Campaign”. MGTO Director João Manuel Costa Antunes attended the PATA Board of Directors Meeting on 29 to 30 September, while Deputy Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes attended a media briefing session of PATA Travel Mart to update the press on the tourism development of Macau. PATA Travel Mart took place from 25 to 28 September in Bali. For more information on PATA Travel Mart, please check: http://www.pata.org. This press release is available at: www.macautourism.gov.mo
…

The statutory mandate of the Administrative Committee appointed by the MSAR government on account of the special intervention measures imposed on Banco Delta Asia, S.A.R.L. (the Bank) expires on 28 September 2007. In view of the remarkable improvement made in the Bank’s management by the joint efforts of the Administrative Committee and the relevant parties concerned during the period of intervention and the persistent requests of Mr. Stanley Au, the original shareholder, for resumption of management control over the Bank, the MSAR government has decided to allow the special intervention measures to lapse and to return the management control of the Bank to its original shareholder, effective from 29 September 2007. The Monetary Authority will, as usual, perform the necessary supervisory duties to safeguard the interests of depositors and to maintain the stability of the financial system of MSAR.
…

To celebrate “World Tourism Day” today (September 27), Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) organized an exciting Tray Race and the World Tourism Day banquet. Director of MGTO, João Manuel Costa Antunes and Deputy Director Manuel Gonçalves Pires Júnior presented welcome gifts to a lucky tourist from Japan at the Macau Ferry Terminal. Yoko Michiue joined a tour to visit Macau. The traditional Tray Race was held in the afternoon, where waiters and waitresses ran down the stoned-path from the Ruins of St Paul’s to Senado Square carrying a tray with a bottle of beer on it. 122 participants from 26 hotels and restaurants in Macau took part in the race. Crowds of visitors and locals were attracted and they cheered for the participants. The winner of the men’s division was Hu You Jun from Jai Alai Cantonese Restaurant and the winner of the women’s division was Wu Shun Zhen from Jai Alai Cantonese Restaurant. The Best Costume Awards went to Wang Ying Jie of Crown Macau and Chen Bi Jun of Hotel Lisboa. In the evening, MGTO held a dinner banquet, attended by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Dr Chui Sai On, to celebrate “World Tourism Day”. ”The theme of World Tourism Day this year is “Tourism Opens Doors for Women”. Today, women are confident, professional, with great patience and they are brave in front of challenges. In the past, women have been working hard to make the tourism industry a success, and I believe, in the future, women will play an indispensably important role in the industry,” said João Manuel Costa Antunes. A launch ceremony was held during the dinner banquet where MGTO presented a “Destination Guide” book to the Association of Traders and Operators of Commercial Vehicles (ATOCV). The Guide book is the product of collaboration between MGTO and ATOCV, providing tourism information like sightseeing, hotels, casinos, shopping, restaurants and information counters in six languages, namely Chinese, Portuguese, English, Japanese, Korean and Thai. From 1st October, all taxis in Macau will be equipped with this Guide book for tourists’ use. World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in the third session of its General Assembly in Spain (September 1979), has decided to commemorate September 27 as “World Tourism Day” each year. This is the 28th year since the celebrations commenced in 1980. The main purpose of “World Tourism Day” is to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic values. Each year, World Tourism Organization selects a different theme for “World Tourism Day”. This year’s theme is “Tourism Opens Doors for Women”. The host country for “World Tourism Day” this year is Sri Lanka and official celebrations were held on September 27. Many other countries and regions also carried out activities to celebrate the day.
…

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that in light of the operation of large-scale hotels and gaming facilities, visitor arrivals in package tours continued to grow, together with the increasing number of residents travelling outbound, the overall business performance of the travel agencies recorded satisfactory growth in 2006. There were 145 travel agencies in operation, up by 7 establishments compared with 2005. Sales & other receipts totalled MOP2.41 billion, corresponding to a year-on-year increase of 16.2%; gross fixed capital formation soared by 79.7% to MOP97.1 million. In addition, gross value added, which measures the economic contribution of the sector, rose by 9.9% to MOP239 million. Number of persons engaged in travel agencies was 1,743 at the end of 2006, up by 11.2% year-on-year. Expenditure of the travel agencies amounted to MOP2.31 billion, an increase of 17.1% over 2005. In terms of expenditure items, payment for the purchase of tickets, package tours, room reservation (MOP2.03 billion) accounted for 87.7% of the total, up by 16.7% year-on-year; besides, operating expenses (MOP140 million) and compensation of employees (MOP140 million) surged by 20.1% and 20.4% respectively.
…

Macao is devoting much efforts in promoting regional co-operation and shaping it into a distinguished service platform, the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said this morning. Addressing some 300 delegates at the opening ceremony of the 13th Congress of International Federation for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (FIEALC), Mr Ho said the event once again illustrated Macao's unique role left by history, which associated the city with the Portuguese and Latin world. ''In particular, we will intensify strategic co-operation with the Pan-Pearl River Delta region which consists of nine Mainland provinces as well as the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao. ''We are also playing a unique intermediary function between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries. ''This role as a service platform has become more evident after we took part in the Second Ministerial Meeting of the China and Portuguese-speaking Countries Economic Co-operation Forum in 2006, as well as the Entrepreneurs Meeting for Commercial and Economic Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries this year,'' he said. Speaking on the opportunities that laid ahead, Mr Ho said that in recent years Latin America and Asia have increasingly recognised the need to be more connected, as globalisation drew the two regions closer together. He said relations between China and most Latin American countries have blossomed in the past few years. ''While there are synergies and differences between the two regions, there are also tremendous opportunities and challenges on the horizon,'' he said.
…

Macao would adopt different measures to promote the use of public transport, at the same time “greening” the transportation system, the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Mr Lau Si Io, said today. Mr Lau was in France for an eight-day fact-finding visit to study the country’s transportation systems, especially the light rail rapid transit system, transit facilities and the bicycle rental programme. He said his preliminary opinion was that it was possible for Macao to introduce the travellator, a kind of conveyor belt-like system used in airports and ferry terminals including in Macao, for the movement of people, to complement other transportation means. In the visit that began on September 16, Mr Lau and his delegation went to Paris, Lyon, and historic cities such as Avignon, Marseilles, Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Cannes and Nice, where they studied these cities’ measures to balance the needs of transportation and conservation of the old districts. Mr Lau and his delegation returned to Macao today.
…

The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government will organize an Academic Research Lecture in the Cultural Affairs Bureau Auditorium (Edifício do Instituto Cultural, Tap Seac Square, Macao) at 6:30pm on September 28 (Friday). Dr. He Sibing from Miami University will give a lecture on “Macao in the Making of Early Sino-US Relations, 1784-1844”. In the late eighteenth century, American merchants in the Canton Trade formed a trade-centered community in Macao that became the first Sino-American meeting place. The following century witnessed a significant expansion of American economic interests in East Asia. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the China trade, which ranked third in importance for the United States, surpassed only by trade with England and Cuba, evinced the preeminent role of commerce in American relations with that region. American trade with China was indeed the cardinal nexus out of which Sino-US diplomacy and missionary activity ultimately evolved. In 1844, the first Chinese-American treaty was signed at Kun Iam Temple in Wangxia, a village on the outskirts of the Portuguese settlement of Macao. This agreement, which included the most-favored-nation clause and extraterritoriality, created a mechanism that was to infringe China’s sovereignty for nearly a century to come. In this process, as a traditional entrepôt and the sole European settlement on the China coast, Macao functioned as a nexus between the old Celestial Empire and the emerging imperial state in the new continent, playing a pivotal role in the evolution of early Sino-US relations. This lecture provides a sketch of Macao’s role in the evolution of Sino-US relations during these formative years. It begins by reviewing the position of Macao during the period of the Canton trading system, from the arrival of the first trading vessel from America, the Empress of China, in 1784 to the conclusion of the Anglo-Chinese Opium War in 1842. It then examines the international status of Macao and Wangxia on the eve of the signing of the first treaty between the United States and China, in order to explain why the two governments opted to negotiate and conclude the treaty at that place. It also reveals the diplomatic role the leading American firm, Russell and Company, played in the interactions between Chinese and Americans, and finally discusses the historical implications of the Wangxia Treaty from the comparative perspective of international law. He Sibing obtained a Ph.D in US Diplomatic History from Miami University, USA, in 1997 upon the completion of his doctoral dissertation “Russell and Company, 1818-1891: America’s Trade and Diplomacy in Nineteenth-Century China”. His academic researches include Sino-US relations, overseas Chinese studies and space policy. He is currently the executive editor of Newsletter on Overseas Chinese Studies published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library. He has taught courses in international affairs at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and was also the editor of Space Age Publishing Company, Kona, Hawaii, USA from 2000 to 2003. He Sibing has published a number of articles related to international relations, which include his book History of the Philippine Chinese, coauthored with Huang Zisheng, Guangdong Higher Education Press, 1st edition, 1987; enlarged edition to be published in 2007 (in Chinese) and the dissertations “Macao in the Making of Sino-US Relations: From the Empress of China to the Treaty of Wangxia, 1784-1844”, “Russell & Company and America’s Trade with Canton in the 19th Century” and “The Philippine Chinese and Sino-Philippine Relations in the Nineteenth Century.” This research topic was awarded a grant in the Cultural Affairs Bureau Academic Research Grant. The lecture will be given in Mandarin with Cantonese, Portuguese and English simultaneous interpretation. Entrance is free. For further details, please contact Ms. Chu of the Macao Historical Archives of the Cultural Affairs Bureau at 5986544.
…

Macao has suspended the import of poultry and related products from a wide area in Panyu where avian influenza has been confirmed. A member of the Management Committee of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Mr Ng Peng In, said at a press conference this afternoon that the suspension, which went into effect yesterday, would be for a period of 21 days. He said this would cover all farms and processing plants producing live poultry, frozen meat and related products within eight kilometres of the location of the outbreak. However, he stressed that supply should not be affected since live poultry and frozen meat imported to Macao is largely produced in farms and processing plants in Zhuhai, Gaoming, Doumen, Shenzhen and Zhaoqing, far away from the outbreak location. Mr Ng said despite this, the Government would continue to liaise closely with related departments on the Mainland and implement all necessary inspection and control measures.
…