Macau Daily Times 2014-10-27

AL APPROVES ANIMAL PROTECTION BILL /DZPDNHUV ZHOFRPHG UHJXODWLRQV VDIHJXDUGLQJ DQLPDO ZHOIDUH EXW they also called on the government to improve the bill

MIF ATTENDANCE DROPS, FRUITFUL IN LUSOPHONE CONTRACTS

P2,3 MDT REPORT

P5

HONG KONG PROTESTERS SCRAP VOTE The pro-democracy protests leaders \HVWHUGD\ FDQFHOHG D YRWH RQ ZKDW the next step should be in their monthlong street occupation P10

MON. 27 Oct 2014 T. 24Âş/ 29Âş C H. 65/ 90%

N.Âş 2178

Blackberry email service powered by CTM

MOP 5.00 HKD 7.50 FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Kowie Geldenhuys

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Paulo Coutinho

“ THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ �

WORLD BRIEFS

AP PHOTO

INDONESIA The Indonesian state airline company Garuda EHJDQ GDLO\ ĂąLJKWV EHWZHHQ the island of Bali and Dili the capital of East Timor on Friday. “I hope that the inauguration of this Denpasar Dili link serves to deepen the UHODWLRQV EHWZHHQ WKH WZR countries across the areas of the economy, tourism and in social and cultural terms,â€? the Garuda Executive Director, Emirsyah Satar, said by statement.

NORTH KOREA may be FDSDEOH RI Ă°HOGLQJ D QXFOHDU armed missile that could reach U.S. soil, but because it has not tested such a ZHDSRQ WKH RGGV RI LW EHLQJ effective are “pretty darn ORZ Ăş WKH FRPPDQGHU RI 8 6 forces in South Korea said Friday.

INDIA Nine people are dead after a passenger bus traveling overnight in India’s UHPRWH QRUWKHDVW VZHUYHV over a bridge and breaks through the railing to fall into D PDUVK\ UDYLQH EHIRUH GDZQ yesterday, police say.

More on backpage With articles republished from

The journey from luxury to thrift will be a test of Beijing’s F1 mettle

China, 20 other countries initiate new Asian bank

P11

GOLF | VENETIAN MACAU OPEN

Lahiri triumphs over Hend P7

mon 27.10.2014 th Anniversary

澳聞

João Pedro Lau

Y

ESTERDAY the curtain fell on the 19th International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF), with lower attendance compared to 2013. Nevertheless, the fair’s organizer, the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), believes that more attention should be on quality, rather than quantity, when analyzing the success or failure of the fair.

Speaking to the media yesterday afternoon, IPIM executive director Irene Va Kuan Lau revealed that attendance this year has dropped more than 10 percent between Thursday and Saturday, compared to the same period last year.

The decrease is not a surprise for IPIM and Ms Lau attributed WKH IDOO WR WKH ÀXFWXDWLRQ LQ H[ternal factors. “When we look at the exhibitions in the nearby regions, the same situation has arisen as well,” she said.

Ms Lau added that a lot of information regarding companies and their products are already available on the Internet, which may also be a factor leading to the decrease in attendance. Another reason for the drop may be that there are also more exhibitions in Macau where participating enterprises are able to sell their products to attendees, making MIF less unique.

However, she said that the evaluation of MIF’s achievements no longer depends on quantities, such as the number of people in attendance.

Instead, IPIM will look at the quality, including the number of transactions, the professionalism displayed and the services IPIM provided. She thinks that the content of MIF this year is richer and that they were able to provide attendees with more information about Macau and participants.

Moreover, the executive director said that Macau has started taking on the role of a platform for Portuguesespeaking countries, as shown in this year’s MIF. “Macau now is actually a platform. Although the [MIF] attendance has dropped, we have seen growth

MACAU

MIF attendance drops, fruitful in lusophone contracts

IPIM’s executive director Irene Lau speaks to journalists

in other aspects,” she said.

“Through the hard work of all parties, the 19th MIF has made the platform for Portuguese-speaking countries the main theme. Of course, we are also working hard on creating a platform for the European Union as well,” she said.

She revealed that the number of participants from Portuguese-speaking countries has increased by around 20 to 30 percent. This, she believes, is the result of IPIM’s continuous promotion of Macau in various Portuguese-speaking countries throughout the years. She also

mentioned the central government’s instructions to create a lusophone food centre in Macau, saying that IPIM has also worked hard on inviting food and beverage companies to join the MIF. Compared to last year, there is a fourfold increase in

the number of contracts signed by lusophone companies this year, rising to more than 40. “People can also feel how spectacular the matching has been in the Portuguesespeaking countries exhibition area for the food and beverage businesses compared to last year. This is because we put more emphasis on the food and beverage [industry],” she said.

After working on the creation of a lusophone food and beverage centre, the IPIM executive director said that they will not rule out providing more Portuguese-speaking countries-related services so that Macau can better develop its features and build a better platform in next year’s MIF, which will be the fair’s 20th anniversary.

Ms Lau also said that exhibitions nowadays are no longer only for the display of products and services, they are also a “meeting place” for businesses where people can learn the newest business information and market trends. She said that this could be a direction in which MIF can develop in future.

Mixed sales results among participants

S

OME local and overseas small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) exhibitors have expressed disappointment in their MIF sales this year, with only one Portuguese-speaking company saying that they have achieved satisfying results.

Ms Ho owns a local natural food retailer, which has a booth in the MIF this year. Having participated in the fair for three years, she said that consumption is far lower than before, with this year’s sales only equal to one-third of that in the previous year. Although she has already predicted a fall in sales, the outcome is worse than she expected.

The fact that there are many businesses that sell products similar to Ms Ho’s is be-

lieved to have lowered their competitiveQHVV 6KH DOVR REVHUYHG D VLJQL¿FDQW GURS in the number of tourists in attendance. $QRWKHU 60( ZKR ZDV GLVVDWLV¿HG ZLWK this year’s results is Mr Gou from Taiwan.

7KLV LV WKH ¿IWK \HDU KLV WR\ FRPSDQ\ WRRN part in the MIF. He said that this year’s attendance and sales are both unexpectedly disappointing. In fact, their sales this year were only a third of that in 2013. He said that they will not return to MIF for their sixth year.

The disappointment of the two SMEs is certainly not shared by Casa Angola International CEO Rui Pedro Moreira, who spoke to the Times at the beginning of MIF about his plan to introduce his

company’s soy products to Macau. He revealed yesterday that his company had acquired a very good contract for their soy beverage. He believes that the lack of Portuguese brand soy beverages in the Macau market is a factor. Their Portuguese wine has also proven popular, as shown by the empty wine shelves in his booth.

However, he has observed a communication problem here, saying that it is GLI¿FXOW WR FRPPXQLFDWH ZLWK PDLQODQG businesses due to the language barrier.

Mr Moreira thinks that meeting and speaking with mainland businesses is a good opportunity and a step towards building a future relationship.

&KXL WKLQNV ࠫDQJH RI DGPLQLVWUDWLRQ not hindering legislation C

HIEF Executive Chui Sai On has commented on lawmaker Chan Chak Mo’s previous suggestion that the changes to Chui’s Cabinet and the upcoming government

5

holidays will affect the legislative process.

Chan Chak Mo, who is the president of the Legislative Assembly (AL) Second Standing Committee, said that government officials promi-

sed in June to submit a new draft for legislation that his Committee is reviewing, but that the draft has yet to be tabled. He said that the absence of a new draft will definitely hinder the

Committee’s reviewing process.

Chui Sai On responded by saying that he respected the lawmakers’ opinions, but claimed that there is no inefficiency in the govern-

ment’s work. Mr Chui also said that he would meet officials this week to discuss the tabling of legislation to the AL. “We pay close attention to [legislative] works and try [our] best to

finish them. They will not be affected by the change of government,” he said.

The CE has also said that there will be a smooth process in terms of the handover between his old and new cabinet.

As for the selection of new government Secretaries, Mr Chui reiterated that he will consider candidates according to the Basic Law.