News

The 24th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest will take place at the sea area in front of the Macau Tower during September 8th and October 1st. Due to technical reasons, Foti International Fireworks Pty Ltd. from Australia will be withdrawn from the program and replaced by another Australian fireworks company Infinity Pyrotechnic. The program will also be revised. The newly joined Australian team will come on stage earlier as on September 15th, while the US team's fireworks display will be postponed to September 29th. The latest fireworks program is available at: http://www.macautourism.gov.mo/documents/img/24th_Fireworks_Program.jpg
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Institute for Tourism Studies is an institute emphasising on both theoretical and practical learning. Students can choose to perform the half year internship programme in Macao or overseas organisations which are related to their specialisations, so as to technically apply what they have learned during classes to actual work environment. It is hoped that students can keep up with the market needs when they are still in school and get ready for their future work life. Besides studies, IFT always encourage and support students to join more public activities like sports, cultural, language, art, creativity and social related activities etc., maintaining their mental and physical well-being. In the academic year of 2011/12, IFT students had participated in various extra-curricular activities and they had achieved some outstanding results in some games:
2012 Macao University Volleyball Championship – the Champion in both Women and Man Category;
2011/12 University Student Swimming Championship - 100m Breaststroke Men, 200m Breaststroke, Men 4x100m Freestyle Relay Men, 50m Butterfly Men and 50m Backstroke - the Champion; 50m Freestyle Men - the 1 st Runner-up;
2012 Macao University Bowling Championship - the Champion and the 1 st Runner-up;
2011 Macao University Snooker Championship - the Champion;
Macau Open Taekwondo Championship - the 1 st Runner-up;
Students had also performed excellently at the 2012 Macau International Dragon Boat Races. Other than sports activities, students also enthusiastically engaged and performed very well in other activities like Galaxy Macao Cup - the 4th National Conditions Education Contest, the 1st Macao-wide Business Knowledge Competition, The 9th Macao Inter - Tertiary Debate Competition etc.. IFT offers various type of extra-curricular activities for students from time to time, for instance, jazz dance, step aerobics, Portuguese folk dance, painting, dragon boat, sketching, photography taking, fencing, volleyball, taekwondo, choir, English/Mandarin debate, Portuguese, Everyday Mandarin for foreigners. IFT hopes that students can utilise their spare time and effectively manage their time and work, participate in more extra-curricular activities to get in touch with more new people and new things and to broaden their view and their networking, these are all the essential elements tourism professionals should possess.
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Accident investigation is an important aspect of work in aviation safety. To enhance the professional knowledge and the skills of the aviation accident investigators, the "ICAO Regional Accident Investigation Workshop, Asia and Pacific Regions (AIG Workshop)" which is hosted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM) is held from 04 to 05 September 2012 in Macao. More than 100 delegates from the aeronautical authorities and the investigation bureau from the Asia and Pacific Region, big aircraft and engine manufacturers in the world, international organizations and Macao's aviation operators are taking part in the workshop for the objective of exchanging and sharing with each other their experience in accident investigation, their latest development and technique in the relevant field. In addition, about half of the workshop delegates will continue to take part in the "Second Meeting of the Asia Pacific Regional Aviation Safety Team – Accident Investigation Ad hoc Working Group (2nd Ad hoc Working Group Meeting)" which will be held on 06 and 07 September 2012 to review the implementation of the yearly work plan and discuss how to further enhance regional cooperation. The workshop and the meeting, with duration of 4 days, are held in the convention facilities of the Macao Science Centre. The opening session of the workshop was conducted at 09:00 this morning (04 September 2012) and was officiated by the President of AACM, Mr. Chan Weng Hong and the Regional Officer, Flight Safety, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Mr. Amal Hewawasam. In his welcome address, Mr. Chan Weng Hong emphasized that safety is the first priority in aviation. AACM puts focused attention to develop and administer their work in the field of accident investigation and is determined to improve the work in legislation and the formulation of procedures. Mr. Chan Weng Hong said that through hosting the workshop in Macao, it is possible to allow more local investigators and industry people to exchange views and opinions with, learn the investigation techniques and the good experiences from the experts in other places. In his opening remarks, Mr. Amal Hewawasam expressed that ICAO wishes to enhance the professional knowledge and the skills of the investigators in the Asia and Pacific Region through sustainable training and requests the member states and administrations to increase cooperation in the Region. In the two-day workshop, 20 representatives from 13 different organizations, including 2 investigators from AACM, will make a total of 22 presentations which cover topics on difficulties encountered during investigation, manufacturer investigation process, sea search operations, setting up of an accident investigation unit, safety data sharing and protection, and case study. The two AACM investigators will share with the other delegates in detail the setting up of the Authority's Accident Prevention and Investigation Unit and the setting up of the Authority's voluntary incident reporting system. In the aspect of aviation accident investigation, Macao did not devise relevant legislation in the past. ICAO also gave their recommendation for legislation in the field of accident investigation when they carried out their audit on Macao's safety oversight work in 2009. For this reason, AACM established an internal cross-departmental accident investigation task force in 2010. An important task to be accomplished by this task force is to study and draft the "Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation and Aviation Safety Information Protection Law (AIG Law)". The draft law was already approved in the general discussions of the Legislative Assembly and will be reviewed by the Third Permanent Committee of the Assembly in their detailed discussions in October this year. The law is expected to be effective in 2012. Apart from defining the responsibilities of investigation, the law also establishes the principles for establishing the confidential and non-punitive operation for the collection of safety information from the industry. In addition to formulating the law, AACM is also working on a voluntary incident reporting system for the purpose of collecting safety information, which is named "Macao Confidential Aviation Reporting System (MACCARES)". This system aims at encouraging industry people to report to the Authority any possible factors that may contribute to an incident in their daily operation, so that corrective measures can be taken to prevent the incident from occurring. The MACCARES will be launched after the implementation of the AIG Law. To learn about the factors leading to an accident through investigation can help to reduce the possibility of accident occurrence. Therefore, aeronautical authorities, safety oversight bureau and accident investigation bureau in different places often put focused attention on staff training and the exchange with other places. The ICAO AIG Workshop is the eighth of its series to have been held. Every year, the workshop is able to attract more than 100 investigators and industry people to take part. The participants are often enthusiastic to learn about the latest development in the relevant field in other places and share with each other their latest technique and experiences. To facilitate the delegates of the 2nd Ad hoc Working Group Meeting to host their discussions following the conclusion of the workshop, being a member administration of the Group, AACM will host the meeting in the same convention facilities. The 2nd Ad hoc Working Group will review the implementation of their yearly work plan and discuss among themselves the agenda items of independence of investigation, investigator training, investigation cooperation, voluntary and non-punitive incident reporting, accident and incident database and so on. The Ad hoc Working Group was set up following the discussions of the 48th Conference of Directors-General of Civil Aviation, Asia and Pacific Regions in 2011. The objective of the Ad hoc Working Group, which meets twice every year, is to review the accident investigation systems that have been developed in the Asia and Pacific Region and identify interventions, and look for policies and procedures for improvement through a coordinated effort, with a view to effectively reduce the regional aviation accident risk and enhance the skills of the investigators in the Region. The AIG Workshop has a participation of more than 100 attendees who come from 39 countries, administrations or organizations, which include the aeronautical authorities and the accident investigation bureau from Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, mainland China, Hong Kong China, Macao China, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Singapore and Thailand; (international organizations) ICAO and its subsidiary "Cooperative Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness Programme – South Asia", and International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations; (aircraft manufacturers) Airbus and Boeing; (engine and parts manufacturers) Pratt & Whitney and Rolls Royce plc; (service provider of sea search operations) ACSA from France and PAN-Communication from China; (Macao's aviation operators) CAM-Macau International Airport Co. Ltd., Administration of Airports Ltd., Menzies Macau Airport Services Ltd., Macau Business Aviation Centre, Air Macau Co. Ltd., East Asia Airlines Ltd., Jet Asia Ltd., Macau Jet International Co. Ltd. and Sky Tech Aircraft Engineering Ltd. The 2nd Ad hoc Working Group Meeting will have a participation of more than 50 attendees.
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With the objective of increasing the understanding of the public accounting system of the EU, specifically the standards of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), the Financial Services Bureau is going to organise a five-day seminar on "International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and National Government Accounting in the EU", that will take place on September 10th to 14th in the Auditorium of the "Finanças" Building located on Avenida da Praia Grande, n.º 575-585, basement, from 5 pm to 7 pm. Integrated in the 2nd EU-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, this seminar will feature as its keynote speaker Professor Rowan Harrison Jones, Professor of Public Sector Accounting, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, UK and co-founder of Comparative International Governmental Accounting Research Network. The seminar will be conducted in English, with simultaneous translation into Cantonese. During the five daily sessions, the event will analyse different aspects of implementing the standards of IPSAS in the budgetary management based on a cash-basis or on an accrual-basis; the following topics will be discussed: 1) Current status of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in the EU; 2) Business accounting standards and government accounting standards; 3) The nature of IPSAS; 4) Accounting and budgeting in the national governments of France, Germany, UK and US; 5) The Eurozone crisis and IPSAS. The 2nd EU-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, which incorporates this seminar, 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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