News

Commencing tomorrow, Thursday, February 24, at 5pm, in the Auditorium of the Institute for Tourism Studies, is the Workshop on the Registry and Notary Services and the Information Technique, included in the European Union-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field. Conducted by Mr. Vicente Monteiro, Director of the Real Estate Registry of Palmela, Portugal, who also held the post of Director of the Real Estate Registry of Macao, this training activity will take place during two days. Organised by the Legal Affairs Bureau, this workshop mainly targets directors of registries, public notaries, private notaries and public officers linked to the area of registries and notaries. The training activity has as its primary subject the computer science for the safety of real estate business, in particular the Macao Code and the computerisation of the real estate registry, the CSN (Computerisation Service of the Notary) and the interaction with the registries. The EU-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, in which this workshop is incorporated, has as its overall objective the “Consolidation of the Macao Legal System” and is in the final phase of its third year, taking place until the beginning of 2006. The total budget for the programme is of 1.980.000 euros, shared in equal parts by the European Union and Macao. The co-ordination of the Co-operation Programme is at the responsibility of the International Law Office, being the organisation of the pertaining activities secured by several other entities of the MSAR’s Government, namely the Legal and Judicial Training Centre, the Legal Affairs Bureau, the Economic Services and the Institute of European Studies, other than the International Law Office itself.
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Immigration authorities recorded a total of 1598242 crossing the five immigration checkpoints of the Macao SAR over the Chinese New Year holidays (08 February 2005 to 13 February 2005). Total number of arrivals stood at 812,516, with Border-gate 553,127
Lotus Bridge 21,531
Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal 206,122
Inner Harbor Wharf Nº14 7,584
Macao International Airport 24,152 Total of departures stood at 785,726, with Border-gate 570,286
Lotus Bridge 21,527
Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal 166,961
Inner Harbor Wharf Nº14 5,708
Macao International Airport 21,244. Meanwhile, total number of tourists entering Macao in that period stood at 461010, with a growth of +27.95% over the same period of last year.
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The Chief Executive, Edmund Ho Hau Wah, in his Lunar New Year message today, urged Macao citizens to grab the many opportunities available, created by the prospering economy, and improve their livelihood. Mr Ho told the people to upgrade themselves and work harder in the Year of the Rooster, in order to create a long-term prosperous society by capitalising on the recent favourable factors. He also suggested the people reinforce their foundations in term of material and spiritual. Mr Ho described 2004 as a fruitful year in the economic sense, and said he hoped that hosting the 4th East Asian Games in Macao this year would also provide a further boost to other industries.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, has appointed five members to the Macao Security Forces Disciplinary Committee. The appointments, gazetted yesterday, came into effect today. Legislative and Executive Council member, Mr Leonel Alberto Alves, was appointed Chairman of the committee. Other members are Legislative Council member Mr Cheong Wai Kei, Mr Wong Hin Fai, President of the Macao Union of Neighbourhood Association Mr Io Hong Meng, and President of the Women Association of Macao, Ms Chio Nan Ieng. The appointments are for a five-year term and could extended by executive order of the Chief Executive. The committee, whose establishment was gazetted on Monday, will advise on the handling of complaints against members of the Macao SAR security forces. Its advice will be submitted to the Secretary for Security and copied to the relevant departments. The relevant security forces are required to notify the committee within five days of all complaints filed against its members. The relevant departments are required to inform the committee of any disciplinary action or measures taken as a result of these complaints, within five days after a decision is made. However, the committee’s authority does not extend to complaints of a criminal nature, internal disciplinary issues of the security forces and matters concerning the relations between structures in the forces.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today Macao had to nurture talents in all areas, including political professionals, and let the young generation with qualities and a spirit of responsibility to emerge. Mr Ho was giving a speech at the cocktail party hosted by the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region to celebrate the Lunar New Year. He said that Macao had successfully competed the first five years of reunification by adhering to the principles of ''One Country, Two Systems'', ''Macao people administering Macao'' and a high degree of autonomy. Mr Ho said we should continue to strictly follow the principle of ''One Country, Two Systems'' and the ''four-point suggestion'' made by President Hu Jintao, to bring a brighter future for Macao. He said we had to make the principle of ''putting the people's interests first'' to fundamental foothold of governance. Mr Ho also thanked the Liaison Office for its contribution to Macao, pointing out that all professionals in the Office had dedicated so much to consolidate Macao's relationship with the provinces on the Mainland.
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Since December last year, meningococcal infection cases were continuously found in Anhui province of China and its neighbouring provinces. It is suspected there has been meningococcal epidemic in Wuhu, Chuzhou, Anqing, Chaohu and Hefei of Anhui province. According to the Ministry of Health, 62 cases of meningococcal infection were reported in Anhui province as at 18:00 of 30 January (an increase of 14 cases compared to the same period last year) with 16 being death cases. The epidemic started in schools and then sporadic cases occurred in the community. The characteristics of the meningococcal infection this time is that it occurs sporadically with multiple sources and most patients aged between 13 and 18. Among the overall incidence, 77% of which took place on students, in particular primary and secondary students, with the main killer being serogroup C meningococcus which is a recently found strain. According to the emergency notice issued by the Ministry of Health on 31 January, from November 2004 till 30 January 2005, 546 cases of meningococcal infection were reported in China, with 258 infection cases and 16 death cases being reported in January. The number of incidence was 94 more than that occurred in the same month last year. The top five provinces with the highest incidence are Anhui, Henan, Hebei, Jiangsu and Sichuan respectively. In Guangdong, there is no indication of outbreak as there are only a few reported cases. There was a small outbreak of meningococcal infection in Baguio City of the Philippines end of last year. From October 2004 till 28 January 2005, 98 cases were reported and 32 were dead. Since 1988, the only recorded meningococcal infection case in Macao took place in 2001 and that was strain B meningococcal septicaemia. The disease surveillance system in Macao is constantly monitoring the situation of meningococcal infection. With the current situation in mainland, the Department of Health is going to issue some guidelines to the front line medical workers with the aim of early detection of the disease and better management of isolation arrangement. In addition, the Department of Health is going to enhance the information exchange with the departments of health in mainland. They will also monitor the situation of the disease in the neighbouring regions closely. The Department of Health is ready to revise their preventive strategies and measures against the disease at any time. Though, there is no sign of having an outbreak in neighboring districts, with consideration of the possible progress of the epidemic, the Department of Health is going to purchase a batch of vaccines by urgent procedures for future use. Meningococcal infection is caused by meningococcus and it can be in the forms of meningitis or meningococcal septicaemia without meningitis. Meningococcus (Neisseria Meningitidis) encompass serogroups A, B, C, W-135, X, Y and Z. There is no cross immunization amongst serogroups, which means the immunization against one serogroup cannot be used to prevent the infection of another serogroup. Pandemics are mostly caused by serogroups A, B and C, with serogroup A as the most common cause. In China, 90% of the previous meningococcal infection cases were caused by strain A meningococcus. The sub-Saharan Africa is named as meningitis belt as meningococcal pandemics always occur in the area. The incubation period of the disease is around 3-4 days (the shortest period can be 2 days while the longest can be as long as 10 days). Meningococcal infection is transmitted by direct person-to-person contact or through inhalation of droplets from the mouth and pharynx of infected persons or asymptomatic carriers. Most infected persons contacted the infection in the nasopharyngeal areas where no symptoms or only upper respiratory tract symptoms similar to that of cold can be found. Few infected ones suffer from sudden onset of fever, severe headache, stiff neck, nausea and vomiting. In addition, purpura fulminans, coma and death can rapidly be developed. Meningococcal infection often takes place in winter. The disease affects all age groups while distribution of age group may vary in different epidemics and outbreaks. At present, the widely-used vaccines include bivalent polysaccharide vaccine which can prevent serogroups A and C, tetravalent polysaccharide vaccine which can prevent serogroups A, C, Y and W-135 and, conjugate vaccine which can prevent serogroup C. In Macao, as this disease is rarely found in recent years, the vaccine against meningococcus is not included in the vaccination plan. Under such circumstances, most of the Macao citizens should not be immunized against meningococcal infection. Thus, the Department of Health calls on all citizens to adopt the following preventive measures against meningococcal infection: -Keep enclosed areas ventilated, avoid working and leisure places being overcrowded;
-Wash hands often, maintain personal hygiene, cover mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing and, handle droplets with care;
-Maintain balanced diet, avoid smoking, exercise regularly, take good rest, so as to increase resistance against diseases;
-Visit doctors immediately in case of fever, or accompanied with headache and rash; infected children should stop attending schools or child-care centres; go to Emergency Departments of hospitals immediately in case of severe headache, stiff neck and changes in consciousness;
-When traveling to epidemic areas, avoid staying in overcrowded and unventilated places and, avoid contact with infected persons.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today the visit to Guangxi has opened up more opportunities for Macao business in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Mr Ho said the two governments have decided on the direction for future co-operation and have agreed on a number of initiatives: these include Macao providing training for tourism and service professionals from Guangxi. Mr Ho said Guangxi had huge potential to develop economic links with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). This would benefit both places, for Macao to play its role as a service platform for the Portuguese-speaking countries in Guangxi. Macao and Guangxi could complement one another, as they were both members of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Co-operation, he said. Speaking at the end of a four-days visit with a delegation of 110 businessmen, Mr Ho said the trip gave Macao business a better understanding of investing in Guangxi. The delegation returned to Macao in the evening.
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The Macao Economic Services will deploy the Internet search of trademark registration records service on February 1st, 2005. This will allow the public to receive Trademark registration information through the Internet without limitation of time and space. The execution of the above-mentioned service will provide convenience to those who are interested in registering a trademark in Macau through shortening of the registration time, thus promoting the development of Industrial Property Rights of Macau SAR. Registering for an Industrial Property Right Protection is receiving more and more attention from the business society. Before an applicant applies for an Industrial Property Right registration, it is common for him to consult with the relevant organization for trademark information. The applicant can then avoid his trademark registration being refused due to similarities with other registered marks. As the number trademark registrations continue to increase, the Macau Economic Services provide the Internet search of trademark registration in response to the needs of applicants. This also soothes the workload of attending the public of our frontline workers, which permits a better allocation of human resources as well as increasing job efficiencies. Starting the 1st of next month, the public could access the Macao Economic Services at “http://www.economia.gov.mo” to search for trademark registration record in Macao SAR. The information from our computer system offers basic details on registered trademarks as well as trademarks that are undergoing the application process in our department. Users can search for trademark records with the use of various keyword search functions, allowing them to receive the appropriate information in a speedy manner.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah said today co-operation between Macao and Guangxi has moved one step up and he was looking forward to more results under the joint efforts of both governments. Mr Ho was speaking in the afternoon in Nanning, the regional capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where he led an official delegation to attend the “Guangxi-Macao High-ranking Officials Meeting”. The delegation, which include high ranking MSAR officials and some 110 businessmen, were on the first day of their four-day official visit to the region, at the invitation of the regional government. Mr Ho said in their new phase of development, Guangxi and Macao were complementing one another and could further co-operate in a broader scope, including tourism and trade which had already shown new growth. The new arrangements which came with CEPA would give a new boost to the economic development of Macao and create new opportunities for enterprises from both sides, he said. “Guangxi, in addition to its world renowned tourism, has the strategic position of of being close to Asean, rich natural resources and enjoy many favourable policies, Mr Ho said. “Its contribution to the establishment of the China-Asean free trade zone provides Macao with new opportunities to form ties with Asean countries. Its active participation in the Pan-Pearl River Delta regional co-operation is also a drive for Guangxi-Macao co-operation. “The Macao SAR Government is willing to do the best to capitalise on its advantage to complement the development of Guangxi,” he said. The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Francis Tam, briefed the participants of the meeting on the recent development of Macao. Mr Tam said that the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement between the Mainland and Macao (CEPA) was a new opportunity to promote Guangxi-Macao co-operation, which had a great outlook as both sides have their own advantages which complemented one another. He said the MSAR welcomed Guangxi enterprises to set up in Macao, to use Macao as a springboard to Portuguese-speaking countries and to capitalise on Macao’s advantage as a free port.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah and his delegation arrived Guangxi this morning on a four-day official visit. In the afternoon, they met with Guangxi government leaders and attended a trade fair to promote the business environment of Macao. The Secretary for Economy and Finance of the MSAR, Mr Francis Tam, delivered an address. Mr Tam said the links between Macao and Guangxi have been enhanced since the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR). Both Macao and Guangxi had competitive edges and the future of their partnership would be bright, he said. Mr Tam said Guangxi benefited by the policies of the Central Government, while Macao had convenient links with foreign countries, especially the Portuguese-speaking ones. He said the MSAR government was forging links with Macao as a regional business platform and he invited Guangxi businesses to join hands with Macao. Mr Edmund Ho will meet with the Secretary of the CPC Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Committee, Mr Cao Bochun, and the Chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Mr Lu Bing, before attending a banquet hosted by the Guangxi leaders. The members of the delegation are scheduled to visit Fang Chenggang, Liuzhou, and Guilin in the next two days. They are to visit some ports, ferry terminals, companies and tourist attractions. Mr Ho and the delegation are scheduled to return to Macao on Saturday.
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