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With an effort to ensure members of the public can share the benefits of economic growth, Macao SAR government launched for the first time in 2008 the Wealth Partaking Scheme, distributing a prescribed sum of money by posting cheque or bank transfer to residents of Macao SAR who fulfilled the eligibility criteria. By virtue of the respective law, cheques of the Scheme 2008 that have not been encashed remain to be valid until 31 January 2012. For persons aged under five on 1 July 2008 who became holder of Macao SAR identity card prescribed by Law No. 8/2002, in case of the payment concerning the Scheme 2008 has not yet been received, the latest date for application will be on 30 December 2011.
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For four consecutive years, the international community of government leaders, businesses, professionals, financial institutions, investors and a host of non-government organizations has converged in Macao to actively participate in the collective effort to address environmental issues of common global concern. The Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum & Exhibition (MIECF), an initiative by the Macao government, is contributing to China's efforts to achieve specific objectives for a low carbon society, as well as to raise public awareness and improve conditions for humanity. From its launch in 2008 through to 2011, MIECF has grown from strength to strength and regarded as a success by delegates, exhibitors and the international community. Now, MIECF returns for its fifth edition in 2012 from March 29 to March 31, at the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel. As the 2012MIECF Event Manager, Koelnmesse Pte Ltd is inviting interested service providers to participate in this Call for Tender, for appointment of service contracts. The range of services being tendered for are:  Stand Contractor
 Freight Forwarder
 Travel Services
 Accounting Service
 Document Printing
 Registration Services
 Shuttle Bus & Limousine Services
 Translation and Interpretation Interested parties are welcome to submit their tenders. Submission deadline is 14 November 2011. Full information on the tender procedures and specifications can be obtained form the website at www.macaomiecf.com.
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The Institute for Tourism Studies' Bachelor Degree Programme emphasises on the balance between theory and practice. Students are required to complete certain hours of practical tasks related to their majors every year. One of the tasks given to the Tourism Business Management students is to provide free guided tour to tourists and local residents. The activity, with the theme of "Tour around Macao with IFT students", is organised by year two students of Tourism Business Management Degree Programme. With the assistance from the instructors, five different itineraries have been designed and each lasts about one hour and thirty minutes. This free guided tour service will be provided to all tourists and local residents on Saturday and Sunday, from 29 October – 12 November. The main objectives of the activity: I. It allows the students to put what they have learnt about tourism into practice. The whole project, from itinerary design to time control to the actual tour guiding, is planned by the students themselves with assistance from instructors. By coordinating the activity, their communication skills can also be enhanced. II. To promote Macao to the visitors by offering the free guiding service at the city centre and tourist attractions. Residents will also be made aware of the importance of tourism to Macao. The Institute for Tourism Studies is the only public higher education institution in Macao that provides training for tourism and service industry. It endeavours to promote Macao through various activities and to leave a good image to everyone who visits the place.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that a total of 2,150 establishments were operating in the Transport, Storage & Communications Sector in 2010, down by 60 year-on-year, which was caused by the decrease in the number of trucks registered under sole proprietorship; concurrently, number of persons engaged decreased by 1% to 14,621. Total Receipts and Expenditure amounted to MOP 17.25 billion and MOP 14.72 billion, up by 21% and 14% respectively over 2009. Gross Value Added that measures the sectoral contribution to the economy surged by 30% year-on-year to MOP 5.60 billion; however, Gross Fixed Capital Formation MOP 333 million, down by 72%. In 2010, establishments operating in the Transport & Storage Sector totalled 2,119, down by 56 from 2009 and number of persons engaged decreased by 1% to 12,714. There were 1,674 establishments operating in Land Transport (79% of the Transport & Storage Sector); besides, 417 were engaging in Supporting & Auxiliary Transport Activities, of which 177 were travel agencies. Transport and Storage Sector registered favourable growth, attributable to rising demand for transport services brought about by the increase in visitor arrivals and the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Total Receipts of the Sector surged by 23% over 2009 to MOP 13.06 billion, with those from Passenger Transport (MOP 5.37 billion) and Cargo Transport (MOP 1.53 billion) rising by 18% and 36% respectively. Total Expenditure increased by 13% year-on-year to MOP 11.97 billion. Analyzed by expenditure items, Operating Expenses (MOP 5.67 billion) and Purchase of Goods & Commission Paid (MOP 4.10 billion) rose by 6% and 38% respectively, whereas Compensation of Employees (MOP 1.88 billion) decreased by 2% year-on-year. Gross Value Added (MOP 3.23 billion) soared by 44%, while Gross Fixed Capital Formation (MOP 115 million) tumbled by 86% year-on-year. A total of 31 establishments were operating in the Communications Sector in 2010, a decrease of 4 over 2009; number of persons engaged increased slightly by 1% to 1,907. Total Receipts of the Communications Sector rose by 15% year-on-year to MOP 4.20 billion, of which Receipts from the Provision of Services totalled MOP 2.94 billion, up by 8%; Receipts from Sales of Goods (MOP 692 million) recorded a 56% year-on-year increase. Total Expenditure amounted to MOP 2.76 billion, up by 15% year-on-year, with Purchase of Goods & Commission Paid (MOP 1.22 billion), Operating Expenses (MOP 676 million) and Compensation of Employees (MOP 450 million) rising by 21%, 22% and 9% respectively. Gross Value Added (MOP 2.37 billion) increased by 15%; however, Gross Fixed Capital Formation (MOP 218 million) decreased significantly by 38%.
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The new General Committee members of Consumer Council held their first meeting on 12th October and Mr Vong Kok Seng was elected president. Pursuant to Dispatch No.72/2011 of Secretariat for Economy and Finance published in Official Gazette #31, Mr Vong Kok Seng, Mr Henrique M. R. de Senna Fernandes, Mr Iu Iu Cheong, Mr Lei Loi Tak, Mr Wong Chung Tak António, Mr Kok Lam, Mr Fong Koc Hon, Ms Lam Soc Iun, Mr Elias Lam, Mr Mok Chi Wai, and Ms Sio Un I were appointed members of the new General Committee of Consumer Council for 2 years. The new General Committee members held their first meeting on 12th this month and Mr Vong Kok Seng was elected president again of the Committee for year 2011-2013. Committee members reviewed recent works of the Council and discussed plans for the coming year. According to Law No. 4/95/M and No. 1/98/M, responsibilities of the General Committee include: to provide comments on regulations established for the protection of consumers, to approve activity plans, budgets, reports and to control the accounts of Consumer Council, as well as to monitor the actions of the Executive Committee.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for July-September 2011 held stable at 2.6%, same as the previous period (June-August 2011); the underemployment rate was 1.0%, up slightly by 0.1 percentage point. Total labour force was 344,000 in July-September 2011 and the labour force participation rate stood at 72.5%, with the employed population increasing by about 300 over the previous period to 335,000. Analyzed by industry, employment of the Transport, Storage & Communications Sector saw increase, while that of Retail Trade and the Gaming Sector registered decrease. Number of the unemployed decreased slightly by 100 from the previous period to 8,900, with 16.6% being fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job, up by 1.3 percentage points over the previous period. In comparison with July-September 2010, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate dropped by 0.3 and 0.6 percentage point respectively; meanwhile, the labour force participation rate rose by 0.7 percentage point. In the third quarter of 2011, the unemployment rate of local residents held stable as the previous quarter, at 3.3%; the labour force participation rate of local residents rose by 1.0 percentage point to 67.8%.
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A test on 12 different brands of quick boil kettle by the Consumer Council showed that all samples passed the tests on 19 criteria for safety but 2 samples lacked Chinese or Portuguese instructions in their product labels. Consumer Council has already requested the retailers to follow up on this. Quick boil kettle is quick, energy-saving, and has become popular in modern households. Since the power of this kind of kettle ranges from 1000W to 2000W, it is crucial to guarantee this kind of electrical appliance functions safely as it is prone to causing accidents. The Consumer Council recently spot checked 12 different brands and tested 19 safety criteria of them including electric current, burning resistance, humidity resistance, and structure, etc. Results of all tested samples were satisfactory. However, 2 samples were found to include only instruction manuals in English and the concerned retailers have been informed to provide instruction manuals either in Chinese or Portuguese, as it is stated in Article 5 'Obligations of the Producer' of Administrative Regulation No. 17/2008 "General Regulations for Product Safety" that one of the official languages of Macao SAR Government must be used in giving essential instructions to consumers so that they can evaluate and prevent any kind of danger. Results of the test on quick boil kettle can be found in the new issue no. 217 of Consumer Report. Online group-buying has become a crucial topic in the work of consumer protection nowadays. Consumptions are made by consumers grouped together online through both local and overseas websites. As the trend of group-buying is increasing, suggestions are addressed to consumers by China Consumers' Association and extracted in the new Consumer Report. Consumer Report is now available free of charge at the two offices of Consumer Council, Public Information Centre at Vicky Plaza and libraries. Consumers may also access the resources online at the Council's official website (http://www.consumer.gov.mo). For enquiries, please call 8988 9315.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that a total of 13,011 Wholesale & Retail establishments, market stalls and fixed stalls on the street were operating in 2010, an increase of 574 compared with 2009. At the end of 2010, total number of persons engaged went up by 7% year-on-year to 44,081. Total Receipts and Expenditure amounted to MOP52.96 billion and MOP47.78 billion, up by 20% and 18% respectively year-on-year. Gross Value Added that measures the sectoral contribution to the economy increased by 48% to MOP10.48 billion, while Gross Fixed Capital Formation fell by 48% to MOP627 million. There were 11,150 Wholesale & Retail establishments operating in 2010, an increase of 520 year-on-year, of which, 859 establishments were engaging in the Sales of Motor Vehicles & Automotive Fuel (+32), 4,524 in Wholesale Trade (+78) and 5,767 in Retail Trade (+410). Number of persons engaged totalled 40,805, up by 7% year-on-year. In view of rising domestic demand and increase in visitor spending, Sales and Other Receipts of Wholesale & Retail establishments reached MOP51.78 billion, up by 20% year-on-year. Analyzed by industry, receipts of Retail establishments surged by 29% to MOP29.75 billion; Sales of Motor Vehicles & Automotive Fuel amounted to MOP3.76 billion (+18%) and receipts of Wholesale at MOP18.27 billion (+9%). Analyzed by size of establishment, receipts of those small establishments (9,849) with less than 5 workers amounted to MOP 8.60 billion (17% of total), down by 9% year-on-year; however, receipts of the large establishments (230) with 20 or more workers rose significantly by 31% to MOP 31.86 billion. Total Expenditure of the establishments increased by 18% year-on-year to MOP46.79 billion. Analyzed by expenditure item, Purchase of Goods & Commission Paid (MOP37.61 billion), Compensation of Employees (MOP3.70 billion) and Operating Expenses (MOP5.48 billion) increased by 20%, 14% and 5% respectively year-on-year. Gross Value Added of the establishments amounted to MOP10.24 billion, up by 49% year-on-year; however, Gross Fixed Capital Formation decreased by 48% to MOP 627 million. There were 1,861 market stalls and fixed street stalls operating in 2010, an increase of 54 year-on-year, comprising 768 market stalls and 1,093 fixed stalls on the street. Number of persons engaged totalled 3,276, with only 427 being paid employees. Receipts and Expenditure of the stalls amounted to MOP1.18 billion and MOP987 million respectively, both went up by 8% year-on-year; Gross Value Added increased by 11% to MOP235 million.
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The Tourism Crisis Management Office today advised Macao residents to reconsider plans to visit Bangkok in the immediate future due to the flooding situation in the Thai capital and neighbouring provinces. It also urged them to keep abreast of announcements on the developments and consider adjusting their travel plans. And those who were already in the country should avoid travelling to areas seriously affected by flooding and pay close attention to the most updated information (Thailand National Disaster Warning Centre website: www.ndwc.go.th, Hotline:192) and their own safety. For assistance, residents may call the Chinese Embassy in Thailand, on +66 854 833 327, or ring Macao Tourism Hotline, on +853 28333000. According to Macao tourism industry information, there are three package tour groups consisting of about 60 people in Thailand: they are scheduled to return to Macao tomorrow or the day after. There is no tour departing for Thailand imminently. Package tour travellers who had to travel to Thailand by Air Macau can apply for refunds via their travel agencies, while those who had purchased Air Macau flight tickets for Thailand may extend their tickets' validity to 31 December 2011.
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The result of The 17th International Postage Stamp Design Contest with the theme – Sharing Hope, organized by Korea Post was announced. This year, a total of 93 design works were submitted through the mailing by Communications Museum. We would like to extend our congratulations to Cheong Pok Man, student of Pui Ching School and Wong Chan, designer, whose works have won the Special Award of Youth Category and the Honorable Mention of General Category respectively. Communications Museum will continue to work hard on promoting this international activity in order to enhance international cultural exchange and stamp collection, as well as to encourage stamp collection.
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