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Working group on food prices conducted price survey on milk powder
The working group on food prices released its latest specific price survey on milk powder. Survey result showed that prices of the 8 surveyed products recorded various price differences. The highest price difference recorded was over 30 percent while the lowest recorded was less than 2 percent. Milk powder is an important food to infants. The working group on food prices added milk powder to its price survey on specific products and collected prices of 8 brands of milk powder from 28 retail outlets, including supermarkets and drugstores, on 29th August. Surveyed items mainly included infant formulas for new born babies. Survey result showed that prices of half of the 8 surveyed products differed from 11 percent to 18 percent in various retail outlets. 'Snow Brand Smart Baby1/900g', which was sold at $199.0 to $264.0, differed for $65 or 32.66 percent; 'Nestle NAN H.A.1' recorded a price difference of 22.48 percent while 'Friso Infant Milk Formula – 1/900g' and 'Enfamil Infant Formula with Iron – 1/900g' recorded price differences of 1.8 percent and 2.4 percent respectively. The specific price survey on milk powder is now available on Consumer Council's website (www.consumer.gov.mo) and in the Council's 'Supermarket Price Information Platform' iPhone and Android apps.
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Workshop on “Food Safety in International and Domestic Law and Policy”
The workshop on "Food Safety in International and Domestic Law and Policy", being part of the 2nd EU-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on September 6th, in the Lotus Room of the Hotel Grand Lapa, located at Avenida de Amizade n.os 956-1110. This event is jointly organized by the Institute of European Studies of Macau and by the Law Reform and International Law Bureau. This activity will feature as its guest speaker Prof. Dr. Francis Snyder, Centennial Professor in the Law Department, London School of Economics, University of London and Starr Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Transnational Law, Peking University School of Transnational Law. The workshop will be conducted in English with simultaneous translation into Mandarin and this training initiative is set out into two modules: 1. WTO, International Standards and Case Law of Food Safety; 2. Case Study of Chinese Law on Food Safety. This event aims at sharing the importance of the requirements, standards and good legal practices in domestic and international legal framework and how it relates to the Food Safety Management System, with a view to promoting food safety. The 2nd EU-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, which incorporates this workshop, has as its main objective the "Consolidation of the Macao Legal System" and will take place until December 2013. The execution of this Programme is coordinated by the Law Reform and International Law Bureau, with the participation of several other MSAR's entities and public departments, namely the Legal and Judicial Training Centre, the Legal Affairs Bureau, the Economic Services, the Financial Services Bureau and the Institute of European Studies of Macao.
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Certificate of Association for the Use of Submission of Annual Summary Reports by Confirmed Legal Constituents in 2012
In pursuant with the stipulations of Law No. 9/2008 as amended by Law No. 12/2000 "Constituent Registration Law", confirmed legal persons should submit their Annual Summary Report to the constituency committee to which they belong on or before the last working day in September every year. Information related to the application for the Certificate of Association which is required in the Annual Summary Report is hereby given as follows: 1.Confirmed legal persons are advised to submit the application for the Certification of Association to DSI as early as practicable if they intend to submit the Annual Summary Report to the committee of their constituency. 2.28 September 2012 is the closing date for confirmed legal persons to submit the Annual Summary Report to their constituency. DSI assures applicants of the issuance of the certificates before 28 September 2012 provided that the application and all required documents have been submitted on or before 12 September 2012. 3.DSI will handle the pending applications or applications submitted after 12 September 2012 as much as it can. 4.When making applications, applicants should:
Complete the "Association Certificate" application form provided by DSI (the form can be obtained from the website of DSI: http://ww.dsi.gov.mo);
Application form must be signed with an association stamp affixed by the president or the chairman or the attorney of the association; and
Attach the following documents:
-General Assembly minutes of the leading cadre members election;
-Identity documents of the leading cadre members;
-Power of attorney is needed when an attorney is designated by the president or the chairman of the association to sign on the application form. It is not necessary for associations or organizations to provide the most updated documents mentioned above if they have already been archived in DSI. However, to prevent the information on the documents being omitted which might result in the delay of application, associations or organizations are advised to submit all of these documents on the application day. For any enquiries regarding the Certificate of Association, please contact the helpline of DSI at 83940584.
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Working group on food prices conducted price survey on instant drinks
The working group on food prices released its latest specific price survey on instant drinks. Survey result showed that prices of the 10 surveyed products recorded various price differences. The highest price difference recorded was about 60 percent. The working group on food prices continues to expand its work in surveying prices of specific products, and recently added instant drinks as one of the surveyed categories. The working group collected prices of 10 brands of instant drinks from 21 retail outlets on 27th August, surveyed items included instant sports drink, malt beverage, chocolate, coffee and milk tea. Survey result showed that 'Nestle Milo Nutritious Malt Drink/400g', which was sold at $33.0 to $53.0, recorded the greatest price difference of 60.61 percent; 'Maxwell House - 3-in-1 Instant Coffee Drink - Original (36 cups)/504g', which was sold at $30.9 to $43.5, recorded a price difference of 40.78 percent. The working group on food prices indicated that some of the surveyed products were sold at differenent prices in branches under the same supermarket chain. Selling price of 'Nestle Carnation Hot Cocoa Mix/250g (25g x 10 sachets)' at Park'N Shop Edf. Kuong Iat branch was $3.6 higher than that sold at Taipa branch. Consumers are advised to check with the survey data to make practical consumption. The specific price survey on instant drinks is now available on Consumer Council's website (www.consumer.gov.mo) and in the Council's 'Supermarket Price Information Platform' iPhone and Android apps.
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World-renowned scholar Prof. Haydn Chen appointed UM’s first vice rector for student affairs
Through open recruitment and strict selection, the University of Macau (UM) appointed Prof. Haydn Chen, a world-renowned expert on materials science, as its first vice rector for student affairs. Prof. Chen will be responsible for devising student affairs development plans geared towards the realization of whole person education to which UM has always attached great importance, especially in recent years when the university is progressing by leaps and bounds. Prof. Chen is a world-renowned materials scientist. He received his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University, one of the top universities in the world. He then taught for many years at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (ranked among the top three in the U.S.) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and became a tenured professor there. Prof. Chen has an impressive trajectory of research on materials science. He is the winner of Humboldt Research Award and is currently a fellow of ASM-International, the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, and the Japan Society for Promotion of Science. He is also the principal editor of Materials Chemistry and Physics. Prof. Chen is a distinguished figure of leadership in higher education. He was administrative fellow of the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs at UIUC, head of the Department of Physics and Materials Science at the City University of Hong Kong, and was appointed president of Tunghai University in Taiwan in 2004. As a fervent advocate for liberal arts education at Tunghai University, Prof. Chen was the one who established "POYA", or "liberal arts school" there through which students learnt under a nourishing education that has knowledge and practice integrated together. Under the liberal arts education, Tunghai University has been able to have impressive accomplishments on the fronts of student enrollment, evaluation, teaching, research and discipline and counselling service. Prof. Chen notes that after it is put into use the new campus will bring unprecedented opportunities for UM, but will also bring greater challenges to student affairs. He thinks that UM possesses great potential, especially given the residential college system to be fully implemented after the new campus is built next year. He believes that UM could promote liberal arts education through the residential colleges in order to nurture more outstanding graduates with extensive knowledge. He also believes that through quality undergraduate education and Honours College which well complement each other, UM will be able to strengthen students' "soft strengths", such as values, passion, courage, team spirit, communication skills and critical thinking, and equip students with liberal arts knowledge, expertise, integrity, and a strong sense of social responsibility. In recent years UM has launched several major projects, including the ongoing new campus, the undergraduate curriculum reform with focus on whole person education, the residential colleges, the Honours College, and so on. UM Rector Wei Zhao says that with the completion of the new campus, UM will transform into a residential-college university, which makes it necessary to make long-term plans now and input sufficient resources to ensure the quality of student management. Prof. Chen's outstanding academic performance, rich administrative experience in higher education and his broad international perspective will form a perfect coordinate with UM's "4-in-1" pedagogical model to fulfill the university's missions, in particular the nurturing of future leaders for Macao.
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External Merchandise Trade Statistics for July 2012
Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export for July 2012 amounted to MOP639 million, up by 10.8% year-on-year, of which value of re-exports (MOP423 million) and domestic exports (MOP216 million) increased by 15.6% and 2.3% respectively. Total merchandise import amounted to MOP5.91 billion, up by 7.8% year-on-year. Merchandise trade deficit amounted to MOP5.27 billion for July 2012. In the first seven months of 2012, total value of merchandise export increased by 15.3% year-on-year to MOP4.58 billion, attributable to a 22.6% increase in re-exports (MOP3.19 billion) when domestic exports (MOP1.39 billion) rose by 1.4%; meanwhile, total value of merchandise import increased by 22.3% to MOP40.61 billion. Merchandise trade deficit for the first seven months of 2012 amounted to MOP36.02 billion. Merchandise export to Hong Kong (MOP2.26 billion) and Mainland China (MOP741 million) in the first seven months of 2012 was principally re-exports, up by 34.8% and 10.3% year-on-year respectively; meanwhile, merchandise export to the USA (MOP302 million) and the EU (MOP210 million) was primarily domestic exports, down by 13.4% and 14.9% respectively. Exports of Non-textile (MOP3.93 billion) in the first seven months of 2012 expanded by 25.5%, of which exports of Machines & apparatus, parts & accessories thereof (MOP738 million) and Tobacco & wine (MOP465 million) surged by 121.6% and 29.4% respectively year-on-year; however, exports of Textile & garment (MOP650 million) registered a decrease of 22.8%. Domestic exports of Tobacco & wine (MOP329 million) rose by 37.0% year-on-year, while that of Knitted or crocheted garment (MOP218 million) declined by 24.0%. In the first seven months of 2012, merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP12.90 billion) and the EU (MOP9.54 billion) expanded by 25.9% and 15.0% respectively year-on-year. Imports of Consumer goods rose by 24.9% to MOP25.00 billion, with imports of Gold jewellery (MOP4.35 billion), Watches (MOP3.06 billion) and Motor cars & motorcycles (MOP1.90 billion) increasing by 39.7%, 51.7% and 55.7% respectively. Moreover, imports of Capital goods (MOP7.41 billion) registered a year-on-year increase of 21.0%. In the first seven months of 2012, total value of external merchandise trade amounted to MOP45.19 billion, up by 21.5% compared with MOP37.19 billion a year earlier.
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Exhibition of Photographic Works by Yung Siu Sun and his Students showcases the works of IFT’s Fine Art Photography course instructor and students
On the 30 August, Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) organises the opening ceremony of the Exhibition of Photographic Works by Yung Siu Sun and his Students. From 30 August to 30 December 2012 at IFT Educational Restaurant and Team Building, the exhibition showcases some of the best photographic works of the instructor Mr. Yung Siu Sun and students taken IFT's Fine Art Photography course. Public and all interested parties are welcome to come to pay a visit. In September 2011, IFT organised a course in Fine Art Photography with celebrated photographer Mr. Yung Siu Sun as the instructor. In this short photography course, students were deeply inspired by Yung, who helped them transcend tradition with new perceptions and conceptions, thereby stepping out of the conventional photographic framework. This exhibition showcases works created by students during practical training under Yung; some photographs are those submitted for the final examination. Form of art use different mediums and photography is about light. Light is employed to depict the shapes of the subject matter: brightness, darkness and contrast form the tones of the photographs. Beautiful composition, rich and sharp colours, as well as substantive content all help heighten the themes of the photographs, and together constitute the elements of photographs. To cope with Macao SAR Government's policy to develop and promote creative industries, IFT started to offer short and fundamental courses in this area two years ago. During these 2 years, IFT has continuously explored courses which are up-to-date, interesting and practical for the community. Today, courses in the areas of photography, graphic design, multimedia creative design, souvenir production, floral design and many others in various levels and areas are running at IFT. Photography courses are even subdivided and offered such as commercial photography, creative photography, fine art photography, reportage photography and salon photography. In graphic design, we have certificate courses in Corporate Identity Design, Diploma in Advertising Design, Poster Design. In souvenir production we are offering silver clay, model production, mosaic, felt, paper artwork, accessories, etc. Recently we have launched two courses namely Video Production for Events and Production of 3D Animation in the area of multimedia.
To further develop the career of creative industry talents in Macao, we are producing a training kit in Floral Art and Design for providing a more systematic training and self-learning material for interested parties. Management is the foundation of success among all industries. Concerning the lacking creative art administrative management talents in Macao, IFT has been running an Art Administration programme for the second year and has invited renowned professors from Chinese Taiwan to come on purpose for teaching. Local culture and arts associations and industry talents are welcome to enroll in the course, in order to better the atmosphere of culture and arts development in Macao.
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A Brief Introduction on the Key Work of Non-tertiary Education and Youth Affairs in Academic Year 2012/2013
A new academic year brings new hopes and visions, teaching staff and students once again stand confidently at the starting line of the new academic year. The Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (hereinafter referred as DSEJ) would like to wish all teaching staff a "Happy Teachers' Day" on 10th September, and thank schools and education workers for their long-term efforts. Meanwhile, DSEJ would also like to wish all students an enjoyable and fulfilling academic year. Increase in the number of teachers, a slight decrease in the number of students
In Academic Year 2012/2013, the total number of school is 78. Due to the change in birth rate and population structure in Macao, the total number of students at the beginning of this academic year is expected to be 73,769. Of which, 71,294 are formal education students and 2,475 are recurrent education students, there is a slight decrease in both in comparison to that of the previous academic year. The total number of teachers is expected to be 6,280; there is a significant increase in comparison to that of the previous academic year. The teacher-student ratio and class-teacher ratio of formal education are improved constantly, which are optimized to 1:11.9 and 1:2.5 respectively; the average class size of formal education is 29.5 students. Increase in education investment, reflection of education equity
In order to further promote sustained enhancement of education quality in Macao, the SAR Government will continue to increase investment in education in the new academic year, so as to gradually achieve the goals of the "Ten Year Plan for the Development of Non-Tertiary Education (2011-2020)". To continuously create better conditions for teaching and learning, the SAR Government continues to increase the amount of free-education subsidy. Of which the amount of subsidy for each class of infant, primary, junior secondary and senior secondary education is increased to 605 thousands, 640 thousand, 820 thousand and 930 thousand patacas respectively. For students studying in schools of non-free education school system, the tuition subsidy for each student of infant, primary and secondary education levels is increased to 14 thousand, 16 thousand and 17 thousand patacas respectively. In terms of text book subsidy, the subsidy for infant education level remains 1,500 patacas per year, and that for primary and secondary education levels are both increased from 1,700 to 1,900 patacas. The above-mentioned measures are conducive to providing more quality education for students and promoting education equity. To further promote the development of small class education, assist each and every student to learn successfully, enhance the quality of education, the calculation criteria and amount of subsidies for the "Subsidy Scheme of optimisation of class- teacher ratio and teacher-student ratio" are adjusted from the new academic year. Level 3 and Level 4 are added for secondary education level, the maximum amount of subsidy per class is 244 thousand patacas, so as to further provide teachers and students with quality teaching conditions. Striving to implement the "System Framework", building a high quality teaching team
The "Ten-year Plan" takes "Strengthening the building of teaching team" as an important measure, this reflects that the Government attaches importance to promoting professional development of teaching staff. At present, DSEJ is preparing for the celebration activities of the statutory Teachers' Day. In addition, as the Academic Year 2012/2013 is the first academic year implementing the "System Framework", the DSEJ will issue commemorative stamps for the Teachers' Day, build the Teachers' Day Website for leaving a message for teachers, play special programmes and promotional clips for the Teachers' Day, send congratulation SMS and emails, as well as hold movie sessions, etc., showing respects to teachers in different ways and promoting the prevailing custom of respecting teachers, so as to enhance the social status of teachers. Since the promulgation of the "System Framework", several explanatory sessions and over 50 briefing sessions were held to explain the main contents of the "System Framework" to about 5000 practicing teaching staff from all the schools in Macao, the preliminary level of ranking of teaching staff were confirmed as well. Special briefing session will also be organized for new teaching staff in the new academic year. Meanwhile, the related work of "System Framework" will be followed up orderly, including setting the professional criteria of teaching staff, providing schools with reference guidelines for the work performance evaluation of teaching staff, monitoring schools to abide by the provision of maintaining the expenditure of remuneration and provident fund of teaching staff in each school year occupies 70% or above of the fixed and long-term school revenue. Furthermore, necessary conditions will be created to enable schools to prepare for the implementation of differentials in basic salary within the school. On the other hand, the DSEJ also works in various aspects to enhance the professional standard and abilities of teaching staff. In the new academic year, schools are guided to establish effective teaching and research mechanisms through the "School Operations Guide"; schools are also supported to develop teaching and research activities in different forms to enhance teachers' teaching and research abilities through the "Programme of Introducing Outstanding Teachers from Mainland China to Macao for Exchange", "Award Scheme on Instructional Design", as well as the related workshops and training activities. Moreover, various types of training activities are organized to further strengthen the professional standard of the teaching team, including continuing to organize the Training Programmes for Principals, Middle and Senior Management Personnel of Schools; extending the principal teacher training, principle teacher training for teachers of primary and secondary physical education and information technology education will be carried out in 2013; cooperating with tertiary institutes to provide more places for education degree and diploma promgrammes for the teachers needed; organizing a series of professional development activities for the newly recruited teachers, etc. Furthermore, the DSEJ starts to establish the "Subsidy scheme of Attracting Outstanding Students Taking Education Programme" from the Academic Year 2012/2013, so as to encourage outstanding students taking teacher training Bachelor's degree programme, they can join the teaching and education career after graduation, so as to promote the sustained development of the teaching team. Steady promotion of curriculum reform
The legislation of the "Formal Education Curriculum Framework" is carrying out smoothly in accordance with the plan. In the new academic year, the infant education curriculum guidelines will be improved, and the elaboration of the statute of the "Requirements of Basic Academic Attainments" of infant education will be advanced. In terms of curriculum pilot projects, the connotation of the pilot project of infant education will be deepened in the Academic Year 2012/2013; on the basis of last year's project, the five learning areas of infant education will be integrated into teaching activities in full range. In addition, the curriculum pilot project for primary education will also be implemented; the participating schools will put into effect the concept and requirements of the new curriculum in implementation of the various standards of the curriculum framework and requirements of basic academic attainments. Through organizing different types of teaching and research activities, teachers are allowed to master the essential curriculum development abilities, so as to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Matching with the Ten Year Plan, promoting student development
In accordance with the policy direction of the "Ten Year Plan for the Development of Non-Tertiary Education (2011-2020)", the "School Development Plan" of the Academic Year 2012/2013 will take "Enhancing students' language proficiency" and "Promoting students' happy and effective learning" as the key subsidized items, so as to assist schools to create good language learning environment, enhance students' reading literacy, as well as written and oral expression abilities. Student associations are subsidized so as to encourage and promote the development of student associations; training for core members of student associations, good deed award scheme, inter-school exchange and volunteer work, etc. are encouraged to be organized to enhance the positive role of student associations. In order to strengthen the building up of the Moral Education Work Team, DSEJ supports schools to establish the "Moral Education Work Team"; provides trainings for coordinators of moral education work and counselling teachers of student associations, as well as develops the inter-school interaction platform. In addition, the junior and senior secondary "Sex Education Teaching Resources" are published to enrich the teaching resources of Moral Education. Meanwhile, schools are promoted to develop a series of sports activities in the new academic year to enhance students' physical fitness. Schools are subsidized to establish the multi-fitness centre in the available indoor space of the school, in order to enhance students' interest in joining sports activities. Schools are encouraged to arrange sports activities of not less than 150 minutes for students per week, develop different types of physical exercise activities in accordance with the need, so as to develop students' habit of doing exercise in a sustained manner. Attaching importance to parent education, promoting home-school cooperation
Systematic parent education programmes can effectively assist parents to master parenting skills, assisting parents to deepen the knowledge of bringing up children. Hence, DSEJ will cooperate with institutions in organizing parent education courses in Academic Year 2012/2013, taking the "Parent Education Teaching Materials" as the basis, professional mentor teams are invited to develop the activities. On the other hand, in order to enhance the effectiveness of the operation of parents associations and improve the organization and coordination abilities of the secretaries in charge of parents associations, training for persons concerned will be organized timely, so as to allow the core members of parents associations to learn the related contents of home-school cooperation and the operation mode of parents associations. Besides, the DSEJ will cooperate with Hong Kong and local institutions to organize parent education seminars of different themes by applying the related contents of the "Parent Education Teaching Materials" and combining with the issues that the society requires parents to concern. Schools are supported and encouraged to develop school-based parent education activities in the form of cooperation or sending tutors to support. At the same time, the "Award Scheme of 100% Parents" will be launched in the Academic Year 2012/2013, so as to encourage parents to actively participate in the foresaid activities and to promote the creation of parent education atmosphere from various aspects. Carrying out the consultation work of "Youth Policy" in an orderly manner
Young people are the future and hope of the society. The SAR Government has been attaching importance to the holistic development of young people since its establishment. To this end, the DSEJ carried out research and preparatory work for more than a year, in which youths of different backgrounds, related experts and scholars, as well as social non-government organizations were invited to discuss and study together in order to understand the development needs of young people, and in accordance with the 15 areas defined in the "Whole-person Development Strategy of Macao Youth" and integrated with the advantageous factors of gradual implementation of the "Ten Year Plan for the Development of Non-Tertiary Education (2011-2020)", the "Youth Policy" is formulated. To further improve the contents of the Policy, public consultation began from 21st August, a series of consultation activities is going to be carried out; all sectors in the society are invited to participate in the discussion of the contents of the consultation document to jointly frame the "Youth Policy". Conclusion
Education makes a better world. In the new academic year, the DSEJ will actively carry out the policy objective of "developing Macao through education", ensure the effective use of the public resources, enable steady sustained development of schools, create more conducive conditions for teacher professional development and cultivate talents of all aspects for the development of Macao.
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Gross Domestic Product for the 2nd Quarter 2012
Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter of 2012 expanded modestly by 7.3% year-on-year in real terms, as affected by decelerating growth in exports of gaming services, total visitor spending and investment. Economic growth was underpinned by the increase in exports of services and private consumption expenditure, of which exports of gaming services rose by 6.2%, total visitor spending increased by 2.5% and private consumption expenditure went up by 12.8%. Meanwhile, the implicit deflator of GDP that measures overall changes in prices increased by 8.1% year-on-year in the second quarter. In the first half year of 2012, GDP expanded by 12.6% in real terms, and economic growth for the first quarter revised upward from 18.4% to 18.6%. Increase in private consumption expenditure sustained, up by 12.8% year-on-year, on the back of favourable employment conditions, rising total employment and working income. Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market increased by 11.5%, and consumption expenditure abroad rose by 11.1%, of which spending in Mainland China amounted to MOP 1.81 billion. Government final consumption expenditure increased by 5.2% year-on-year, with compensation of employees and net purchases of goods and services rising by 4.1% and 7.5% respectively. The gauge of investment, increase in gross fixed capital formation narrowed substantially to 11.6% year-on-year. Private investment decreased by 6.3%, as construction and equipment investment shrank by 8.1% and 0.6% respectively. Government investment soared by 187.9%, attributable to the construction of the Hengqin Campus of the University of Macau and the public housing projects that drove up public construction investment to register a notable increase of 193.9%; besides, equipment investment also rose by 104.1%. Merchandise exports rose by 19.1% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2012, moderating from 23.9% in the previous quarter. At the same time, increase in merchandise imports receded from 26.1% in the first quarter to 15.5% in the second quarter of 2012 due to growth deceleration in investment and visitor spending. Regarding trade in services, with declining visitor arrivals, slower growth in gross gaming revenue and per-capita spending of visitors, exports of services increased by just 5.7% year-on-year, far lower than 19.2% in the first quarter; in particular, exports of gaming services increased by 6.2% and total visitor spending rose slightly by 2.5%. In addition, imports of services edged up mildly by 1.2% year-on-year.
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Award Ceremony of 23rd Macau International Fireworks Display Contest Photo and Student Drawing Competition
Macau International Fireworks Display Contest is organized by Macau Government Tourist Office. The Student Drawing Competition and Photo Competition are held annually in conjunction with Macau International Fireworks Display Contest. MGTO hosted the related award ceremony today (August 30) and awarded the prizes to the winners last year. The Ceremony of 23rd Macau International Fireworks Display Contest Photo Competition and 23rd Macau International Fireworks Display Student Drawing Competition was held at the ground lobby of Macau Tower. Director of MGTO, João Manuel Costa Antunes, Deputy Director of MGTO, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Acting Deputy Director of Cultural Affairs Bureau, Ieong Chi Kin, Head of Department of Cultural Activities and Recreation, Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Choi Chi Hong, Representative of Education and Youth Affairs Bureau, Chan Wun San, Representative of Maritime Administration, Kuan Chon Chun as well as photography, art and media representatives awarded the prizes. The list of winners is published on MGTO website. The awarded works are displayed at the ground lobby of Macau Tower effectively from today to September 6. Macau International Fireworks Display Contest is a spectacular annual event in Macau. The marvelous fireworks displays have attracted both local and foreign spectators and have gained an internationally acclaimed reputation for Macau. Through photography and drawing, Macau citizens can capture the beauty of the fireworks lighting up the night sky. This year, MGTO will add new categories to Macau International Fireworks Display Contest Student Drawing Competition and Photo Competition. Besides the two existing categories, a new category of 15 – 18 years old will be added to the student drawing competition. On the other hand, a high-school plus college student category of 17 – 24 years old will be added to the Photo Competition besides the existing public category. 24th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest Photo Competition and 24th Macau International Fireworks Display Student Drawing Competition are now open for entries and welcome all residents' participation.
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