III.B.1.
4 th Chongqing Global Sourcing Fair
As in previous year, EIC-Macau joined the Macao Business Delegation organized by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) to attend the four-day Chongqing Global Sourcing Fair, held at the Chongqing International Exhibition Centre, from 20th to 23rd April. The purpose of our participation was to get a better understanding of that Municipality and to explore business opportunities that are being offered there. It was also our objective to promote our services to enterprises established in that part of the country thus developing a wider network for EIC-Macau in Western China.
On the date of our arrival, 19th April, we were warmly welcomed by officials of the Chongqing Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Commission. We enjoyed a traditional Xi Zang dinner together with the officials and representatives from some Chongqing enterprises, during which we were briefed on the recent development that was currently taking place in that Municipality.
On the following day, the Macao Delegation was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Fair. After the ceremony, the delegation visited the numerous booths set up by various companies coming from many different parts of China . A ‘Macao SAR Pavilion’ was also set up to promote Macao , with an introduction on the Macao general business and investment environment and the business opportunities that are being offered. EIC-Macao also took this opportunity to promote its services by distributing brochures and information leaflets concerning the European Chinese Companies Co-operation Profiles in the booth reserved for them. As a result of our promotion efforts, we would expect more enquires from enterprises established in Chongqing and in Western China , in the near future.
In the same evening, EIC-Macao representatives were invited to attend a formal dinner hosted by the Chongqing People’s Municipal Government. Top government officials from the Municipal Government expressed their gratitude to the officials and business representatives for their attendance and support to the Fair. They also expressed their wishes that the Fair would continue to be held in the future and that business relationship could be developed through the Fair, for the benefit of all participating parties.
This being the third consecutive year that EIC-Macao has been attending the Chongqing Fair, we note with satisfaction that both the size as well as the number of participants were growing rapidly. We hope that EIC-Macao would have more opportunity to serve the Chongqing enterprises in the future and be able to introduce the business opportunities existing in that dynamic Municipality to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), both in Macao and in Europe .
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III.B.2. 7th Western China International Economy & Trade Fair
EIC-Macau joined the Macao Delegation organized by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) to attend the 7 th Western China International Economy & Trade Fair, held at the Chengdu New Exhibition Center of Century City, from 25 th to 28th of May 2006. According to the organizers, this Fair is the only national-level exhibition event in Sichuan , a province located in the western part of China . Therefore, this Fair serves as a very important platform to link up business co-operations, especially between this part of China and the rest of the world.
On the 25th of May, the Macao Delegation was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Fair and had the opportunity to visit large number of booths afterwards. The Fair definitely gained a lot of international attention as it had attracted around 103 delegations from 53 countries and districts, with more than 3,000 representatives. Several foreign countries such as Germany , Russia , Thailand , and Vietnam have set up large-scale pavilions to introduce not only their business environment and products but also their culture and tourism as well. Participants from other countries, such as Spain , France , Japan and Hong Kong , also joined together to form combined pavilions. A "Macao SAR Pavilion" was set up in the Fair to introduce the general business environment of Macao and its special position as a business platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking, as well as between China and the European countries. During the Fair, EIC-Macau distributed brochures in the Macao SAR Pavilion to promote our services and also collected a large number of data on Sichuan enterprises and business environment, for future reference of our clients in Macao and Europe .
Moreover, the Macao Delegation also met with officials and business enterprises from Guangan City of Sichuan Province , during which information on the recent development in both cities were exchanged. Ms. Irene Va Kuan Lau, Senior Manager of the Offshore Services Department of IPIM, delivered a speech on the recent development of Macao and cordially invited officials of Guangan City to attend the Macao International Trade & Investment Fair (“MIF”) in September 2006 to promote their city to the Macao investors.
Apart from participating in the Fair, the delegation was invited to visit Xindu District, also located in Chengdu Province . Several enterprises, whose products are being distributed all over the world, have established their presence there. As a sign of progress, many beautiful residential complexes have been completed and more and more affluent local people as well as foreigners have been moving to live in this new and fully-equipped area.
During this three-day visit, we noted that different areas of Sichuan are undergoing a fast economic development to attract more foreign capital and make it a better place for people to live and work. EIC-Macau plans to provide more information about this energetic and charming Province to our clients in Macao and Europe in the near future.
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III.B.3. 3rd Pan-PRD Regional Economic & Trade Cooperation Fair
Following the success of the first and second Pan-PRD Regional Economic & Trade Cooperation Fairs, held in Guangdong and Sichuan Provinces , respectively, in the last two years, the third Pan-PRD Fair took place in Kunming , Yunnan Province, from 6 to 10 June, 2006.
As in the previous two years, EIC-Macau joined the Macao delegation organized by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) to take part in the Fair, during the period from 5 to 8 June, 2006. Over 150 representatives from various Macao government departments and business sectors participated in the four-day event. The objective of EIC-Macau in joining the delegation – to broaden our knowledge of the participating districts and to promote and expand the EIC network – was met.
During the Fair, each of the “Pan-PRD Region” members put up its unique pavilion to attract visitors to their places. Ample information was provided in those pavilions to introduce the general conditions as well as the specific developments in different industries in their respective locations. Natural products from and goods manufactured in the “Pan-PRD Region” were displayed and some of them were also available for sale. A large-scale “Macao Pavilion” was set up to introduce the general conditions in Macao , while products manufactured in the SAR were also on display. Moreover, a number of Macao business associations and companies set up their own booths to promote their own services and products. The unique Macanese-style pavilion was especially successful in attracting the attention of the visitors as it was one of the most popular booths in the Fair.
To further enhance Macao’s image as a strategic business and investment platform between the “Pan-PRD Region” and the Portuguese-Speaking Countries, the Macao Trade and Investment Institute (IPIM) organized a seminar – “Taking Advantage of Macao as a Platform, Seizing Business Development Opportunities between the Pan-PRD Region and the Portuguese-Speaking Countries”, which managed to attract many government officials and enterprises eager to seek first-hand information about investment opportunities abroad. During the seminar, representatives from the Macao delegation also grabbed the opportunity to further introduce the current business environment in Macao and the Portuguese-Speaking Countries to the participants, while also answering their enquiries on the spot, mostly related with trade and investment issues. The seminar proved to be helpful in facilitating business cooperation among the participating districts.
Representative of EIC-Macau was particularly impressed by the efforts made by the governments in the “Pan-PRD Region” to provide a favourable environment so that enterprises within the Region could strengthen and consolidate their relationship to jointly establish a better access to each other’s market, thus offering a much greater chance to succeed.
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III.B.4. 10th China International Fair for Investment and Trade
Each year from 8 to 11 September, the largest trade and investment fair in China will be held in Xiamen . Since April 2005, the Fair has become an UFI-approved (The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry) event, and is the sole nation-wide international investment promotion event focusing on promoting FDI.
This year, in order to increase our knowledge about Xiamen and its investment opportunities, EIC-Macau joined the Macao Delegation initiated by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute to attend the 10th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT). 80 delegates from various government departments, business associations and enterprises attended the event.
The 10th CIFIT is sponsored by China 's Ministry of Commerce, and co-sponsored by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, International Finance Corporation and World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies. With the theme of “Introducing FDI” and “Going Global”, the CIFIT is unique in combining investment with trade, exhibition with talks, project promotion with policy consultation, and policy briefings with information releases, to provide comprehensive conference services and to make CIFIT a premier event for bilateral and multilateral investment cooperation.
During the visit, the Macao Delegation was invited to attend the Opening Ceremony for the 1st Forum on the Economic Zone at the West Coast of the Taiwan Straits and the establishment of the Fujian and Taiwan Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee. Government officials from Macao SAR, Hong Kong SAR, Fujian Province and Taiwan presented their current business environment and called for more cooperation in the future. On the same evening, the Macao Delegation was received by the Fujian Provincial Chief and Committee as a gesture to express their gratitude to the presence and participation of the Macao delegates.
On 8 September, the Macao Delegation attended the Opening Ceremony of the 10th CIFIT. The “Macao SAR Pavilion” was set up to introduce her business environment and the services offered by the government to help enterprises invest or establish companies in Macao . The CIFIT, being the most international fair held in China , has drawn in many European countries to set up pavilions at the Fair to attract Chinese capital investment and business co-operations. EIC-Macau also took this chance to visit their booths and introduced the services of our centre. Several contacts were made with the European representatives to seek for future cooperation and information exchange.
The result of the 10th CIFIT proved to be overwhelming as it attracted 383 overseas delegations from governments, industrial associations and international organizations from around 80 countries and regions. Added to it were the 1,068 investment deals signed with a total investment of US$21.66 billion, in which US$15.08 billion was foreign investment.
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III.B.5. 11th Macao International Trade & Investment Fair
With commendable success obtained at previous MIFs (Macao International Trade and Investment Fair), the Euro-Info Centre, Macau in conjunction with the Institute of European Studies of Macao continued to participate in this year’s MIF as an exhibitor.
MIF, now being an approved event of the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI), has become Macao’s largest international exposition offering opportunities for trade promotion, product display, commercial partnering and sales promotion. Organized by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute and co-organized by eleven local and overseas associations, the 11th MIF was held between 23 and 26 September 2006 at the Macao Tower Convention & Entertainment Centre.
During the Fair, EIC-Macau grasped the opportunity to promote its services and establish client relationships. More than 500 promotional leaflets and information brochures were disseminated during the 4-day exhibition. The Centre received more than 50 enquiries that were related to topics such as EIC’s network & services, business co-operation, EU market information, EU trade and investment regulations. Many participants from China and other countrie s showed special interests on the project “Chinese European Companies Cooperation Profiles” which displayed the company profiles of more than 80 European and Chinese companies from 24 different countries and cities of the EU and China .
To allow our clients to have first-hand information about the EU, an interactive kiosk was installed to display EU information such as economic data and market information on each of the EU-25 member countries, information about the European Currency – Euros, as well as updates on many EU institutional policies and activities.
The theme of the 11th MIF is “Promoting Cross-regional Economic Co-operation, Embracing New Development Opportunities” which aimed at strengthening Macao’s unique role as commercial and trade services platform to promote economic activities and trades, and co-operation between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries. These would be brought about by the development opportunities arising from CEPA, the Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Co-operation, and by complementing the advantages of Macao with those of other countries.
As reported by the organizer, there were 141 business delegations from 47 countries and regions participated in the 11th MIF. More than 60,000 patrons attended the Fair; among whom were over 4,000 high profile industrial and business celebrities, translating an increase of nearly 50% vis-à-vis the previous event. The Fair recorded around 500 business matching and purchasing meetings and a total of 22 co-operation projects, business contracts, and other types of agreement concluded which amounted to more than 300 million patacas.
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III.B.6. Participation in 2006 China Hi-Tech Fair
The China Hi-Tech Fair (CHTF) has emerged to a state-level, international hi-tech event held annually from October 12 to 17 in Shenzhen , China since its inception in 1999. The CHTF, approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China , is co-hosted by nine government departments and the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government.
As in the previous years, the EIC-Macau joined the Macao Delegation organized by the Macao Productivity and Technology Transfer Centre (CPTTM) to participate in this annual spectacular in order to promote the roles and services of the Centre and to increase its exposure among SMEs in China and in overseas countries. The Macao Delegation composed of 12 entities including EIC-Macau, IPIM, telecommunications and information technology companies, trading firms, universities and others. These 12 entities set up their own booths in the Macao Pavilion to introduce their services and programs or to tap their markets for some of their latest innovations and products.
The Macao Pavilion attracted a lot of visitors who showed great interest in some of the services offered or products displayed by the exhibitors. As for EIC-Macau, we received more than 50 enquiries on the spot during the 6-day event. These enquiries fall on several categories, namely, EU policies, EU market information and trade regulations, the trading procedures in EU, business cooperation and EIC services.
The CHTF this year was composed of six sections: Commercialization of Technological Innovation, Specialized Shows, World Technology & Economy Forum, super-SUPER Special Events, Hi-tech Human and Intellectual Resources Exchange and a year-round fair. In line with the national development strategy of China , the themes of the CHTF 2006 were: proprietary innovation, recycling economy and intellectual property rights protection.
After years of continued development and improvement, today the CHTF is the most influential state-level international technological exhibition in China . With a total exhibition area of 105,000m2, CHTF 2006 accommodated over 500,000 visitors. Above all, CHTF 2006 broke three new records in a row, the largest number of foreign ministers, the highest number of official delegations and the most world-wide stock exchange participants.
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