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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today the appeals made by most demonstrators on 1 May were rational and proper: but a few had a political motive that led to the disturbance. Mr Ho said people have the right to express their views by demonstrating, but their actions should not disrupt social order and affect the rights of other law abiding citizens. Demonstrators should proceed lawfully and abide by the guidelines given by the security agencies. He said the government paid special attention to the people’s views expressed lawfully, and would answer them proactively. Regarding last Tuesday’s incident when an officer fired warning shots into the air during a demonstration, Mr Ho said the shooting was neither a means to suppress the demonstration nor was it an order made by a senior police official. The shooting was an on-the-scene judgment of the situation made by the officer to prevent demonstrators from trampling on one another, as some people at the front of the crowd had started to fall at the time. Frontline police officers dealing with demonstrations are not allowed to carry firearms, whereas back-up officers are armed, said Mr Ho. He said an internal investigation had begun into an incident, including a review of how demonstrations would be handled in the future. Mr Ho said the Government was highly concerned about the passer-by who was hit by a stray bullet and expressed his sympathy. The police had acted appropriately to help prevent what could have been a worser situation, he added.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah today visited Chairman Mao Zedong's former residence and memorial hall in Shaoshan, Hunan before returning to Macao in the afternoon. During the four-day visit to Hunan, Mr Ho attended a string of activities associated with the 4th Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) Regional Co-operation and Development Forum, such as its opening, a conference attended by high-ranking officials, a dialogue participated by the chief executives from 9+2 and trade and business officials from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and a joint conference presented by the chief executives. The Forum ended yesterday, with the next one to be hosted by the Government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
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Macao is hosting the second round of Meteorological Technical Conference among China, Macao and Portugal that was began in 2000 as a way for jointly development our cooperation. The Macao Special Administrative Region is recognized by the Government of the People’s Republic of China to serve as a platform for cooperation between China and Portuguese Speaking Countries. In the meteorological field our aim as to act the same role. After agreed by the China Meteorological Adminstration and the Portuguese Institute of Meteorology, invitation were sent out to all weather Services of the Portuguese Speaking Countries to particpate in this Technical Conference. Their contribution can be the participation of two meteorologists by country and scientific presentations in areas which they can contributed to. The six Portuguese Speaking countries which will be present are: Angola, Cape Vert, East Timor, Guine-Bissau, Mozambique and Portugal. The aim of this meeting is to enhance the cooperation among Meteorological Institutions and given the importance of this activities for the development of the technical and scientific interdisciplinary knowledge in the field of meteorology in MSAR, and contributes to the cooperation and exchange among China, Macao and the Portuguese Speaking Countries Meteorological Services. All this activities are to serve more and better the Macao population. During the openning session it will take place a ceremony for the transfer the Portuguese version of the World Meteorological Organization / World Weather Information System from Macao, China to Portugal. This website is part of the Public Weather Service Program of this international Organization, and was designed and developed in 2004 by Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau as a way to contributing to the World Meteorological Organization Programs and specially to the portuguese speaking community. Colaboration were received from Hong Kong Observatory and Portuguese Institute of Meteorology during the development stage of this website. The openning cerimony of the Conference will taking place at 10am on 12 June 2007 at the SMG Headquarters located at Taipa Grande.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today the Macao SAR would make an all-out effort to serve as platform between the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) and Portuguese-speaking countries, and to provide potential markets for members of the PPRD. Mr Ho stressed on Macao’s increasingly important role as platform for the PPRD and Portuguese-speaking countries when he attended a joint conference with leaders of the governments of the nine PPRD provinces and the HK Special Administrative Region. “Since the establishment of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao) in 2003, the total volume of trade has been raised from US$100 millions to US$300 millions between China and Portuguese-speaking countries,” he said. “Most of the Portuguese-speaking countries are developing countries which have a great need in techniques and capital no matter in producing what kind of product. Macao will act according to the instructions given by the Central Government to provide potential markets for members from PPRD. “Over the past year, Fujian which is a member of the PPRD, has a relatively extensively contact with the Portuguese-speaking countries: we can see there is a great potential in trading and investment co-operation between the two parties,” Mr Ho said. The Chief Executive also said that Macao was studying ways to work with media from the PPRD as strengthening of information exchange and co-operation would benefit the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao), he added. Due to its historical background, Macao maintains traditionally close and special economic and trade, cultural and personal links with Portuguese-speaking countries. The Central Government designated the Macao SAR to organise the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao) to promote the development, and to strengthen the economic and trade exchanges and cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, and to leverage Macao’s position as platform to bring China and Portuguese-speaking countries together.
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Macao would continue to promote co-operation between members of the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) Regional Co-operation and Development Forum and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today. Mr Ho was delivering a speech during a session with top officials from the PPRD region and the trade and commerce officials from the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ‘Co-operation between the PPRD region and ASEAN would bring plentiful and substantial results,’ Mr Ho said. Mr Ho also underlined Macao’s role as a gateway to the markets of the Portuguese-speaking countries and its willingness to help promote business links among members of PPRD region, ASEAN and the Portuguese-speaking countries. ‘The Portuguese-speaking countries are emerging, providing new opportunities for businesspeople,’ said Mr Ho. He emphasised that in order to better act as a business platform, Macao had to facilitate its business environment and strengthen communication with ASEAN. ‘Macao’s many new business, convention and exhibition facilities would be enchanced, enabling members of the PPRD forum and ASEAN to promote connections,’ he said. ‘We had also enhanced connections with ASEAN, with two Government and business delegations visited four Southeast Asian countries since last October,’ ‘These visits had not only prompted friendship and mutual understanding, but also substantial co-operation in trade, tourism, training of personnel and more.’ He said that ASEAN member countries had reputed advantages in many areas. ‘These advantages can be promoted to members of the PPRD forum and the Portuguese-speaking countries, and Macao should also learn from the ASEAN countries in these aspects,’ Mr Ho said.
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The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Francis Tam, said today that consolidation after a fast-growing period is good for the long-term healthy and stable development of Macao’s gaming industry. Mr Tam, who is attending the 4th Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Co-operation and Development Forum in Changsha, was asked to respond to reports on a gaming operator’s decision to delay expansion plan after the Guangdong authorities made a revision to the implementation of the Facilitated Individual Traveling scheme. He said it was normal and common in the business world for investors to adjust their business plans according to changes in the market. Mr Tam said Macao’s gaming industry had gone through several years of rapid growth due to investors’ optimism in the industry’s outlook. “A chance for the operators to adjust their plan according to the market will consolidate the achieved development and is good for the long term healthy development of the industry, “ he said. “It will be normal even if the gaming industry is to enter a consolidating period, and it would only benefit to the overall economic development of Macao after.” He said the Government’s plan was to make gaming a splinter to boost other service industry and was glad to see signs of that emerging, as some non-gaming facilities built by gaming operators would come into service later this year.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today that Macao would continue to promote co-operation with members of the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) Regional Co-operation and Development Forum. Mr Ho was delivering a speech at a forum at which the governors of the nine provinces in the PPRD region, including the Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR, and other high-ranking officials, were taking part. Mr Ho said that given the limited domestic market, it was necessary for Macao’s business sector to value opportunities in the neighbouring regions, especially emerging ones in the Mainland. Since the commencement of the PPRD co-operation mechanism three years ago, Macao had continued to promote all-round co-operation with members of the PPRD forum and attached particular importance to partnerships in trade and tourism industry. Meanwhile, he also said that Macao could act as a gateway for companies in the PPRD region to enter Portuguese-speaking countries and the European Union. ‘Benefiting from years of endeavour, Macao had enhanced co-operation with Portuguese-speaking countries and the European Union,’ he said. ‘Lately, Macao attracted attention from investors worldwide and was gradually turning into a characterised services hub in the region.’ Mr Ho said Macao had contributed to the organisation of an economic forum and trade fair staged in Mozambique two months ago, the purpose of which was to promote trade and co-operation among companies from China and Portuguese-speaking countries. He said Macao had gained valuable experience from the event and he was confident that in the future Macao could provide excellent services for companies in the PPRD region to venture in Portuguese-speaking countries and the European Union. To better act as a business platform, Mr Ho said that Macao had to enhance its business environment and service quality. He explained that the opening of new convention and exhibition facilities in the second half of this year would enable Macao to better act as a business platform for companies in the PPRD region to enter the markets worldwide. He said Macao would hold the 12th Macao International Trade and Investment Fair in October and this would further promote business opportunities for enterprises in the region. Moreover, Macao would stage an international business forum in April 2008 to explore opportunities in the emerging environmental protection industry. Mr Ho said Macao would invite governments in the PPRD region to support the organisation of the forum, which would attract businesspeople from Europe and the PPRD region.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, met with the Secretary of Hunan Provincial CPC Committee, Mr Zhang Chunxian, and the Governor of Hunan Province, Mr Zhou Qing, when they both agreed to step up collaborative relationship between the two places. Mr Ho met the Hunan leaders after he had been received by the vice chairman of the CPPCC Hunan, Mr Yang Baohua, upon his arrival at the provincial capital of Changsha in the afternoon. “The chief aim of this visit is to further link up Macao and Hunan in trading, tourism and cultural cooperation,” said Mr Ho during the meeting. “Macao’s entrepreneurs should fully make use of the opportunities that come along with the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) Regional Cooperation and Development Forum, and to seek business opportunities outside Macao. “Meanwhile, Macao, which acts as business platform, is willing to provide favourable services and to assist Hunan and the rest ‘9+2’ brotherhood-like provinces and regions to open up markets in the Portuguese-speaking countries,“ said Mr Ho. Mr Zhang accepted Macao’s role as business platform, and said that tourism and cultural cooperation could be a starting point to strengthen collaborative relationship between the two areas. The Macao delegation attended a welcome banquet hosted by the Hunan government before the opening ceremony of the 4th PPRD Regional Cooperation and Development Forum, and a cultural performance show.
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Under the framework of the "9+2" Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) Regional Cooperation and Development Forum and the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), strengthening multi-lateral cooperation will be the focal point of this 4th forum, said the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah. The Chief Executive said this today as he led a delegation of government officials and local business people to Changsha, Hunan to attend the 4th PPRD Regional Cooperation and Development Forum and Economic and Trade Cooperation Fair. Asked by reporters at Macao International Airport on his departure that if Mr Ho would take this opportunity to further discuss with Hunan province officials the human resource cooperation issue. He said most activities would only concentrate on "9+2" cooperation, adding that he had no special arrangement to discuss specific cooperation with any particular province. "Macao and Hunan is willing to have a collaboration on human resource, and we hope to find ways, gradually, to strengthen our cooperation," said Mr Ho. "However, the existing cooperation mechanism for labour-market between Macao and the Mainland goes through the Ministry of Commerce, it is hard to surpass this mechanism and to discuss cooperation with specific province," he said. Mr Ho will attend the opening ceremony of the forum tomorrow and will deliver a speech on a forum to be attended by high-ranking officials. He is also scheduled to attend a dialogue with "9+2" leaders and officials from ministries of commerce of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries on June 10, which is one of the highlights of the forum. During Mr Ho's absence, the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Florinda Chan will be the Acting Chief Executive. The PPRD Regional Cooperation and Development Forum was first established in 2004. It is also known as the "9+2", with members from nine provinces and two special administrative region, namely Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichan, Guizhou, Yunan, Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, is to lead a delegation of officials to Changsha, the capital city of Hunan, tomorrow for the 4th Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) Regional Co-operation and Development Forum and Economic and Trade Co-operation Fair. During his visit to Hunan, Mr Ho will attend the opening ceremony of the forum and trade fair, and is scheduled to meet with the Secretary of Hunan Provincial CPC Committee, Mr Zhang Chunxian, and the Governor of Hunan Province, Mr Zhou Qiang. Top officials from the nine provinces and the two Special Administrative Regions (SAR) in the PPRD region will gather together and discuss further co-operation. Moreover, commerce and trade officials from member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would also participate in the forum and meet with the top officials from the PPRD regions. This is the fourth PPRD forum since its establishment in 2004. The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Florinda Chan, will be Acting Chief Executive while Mr Ho is away.
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