The 5th Macau International Fair (MIF), which will be held on 20th – 24th October 2000 in the Macau Landmark Convention and Exhibition Centre, is the first big event of its kind since the return of Macau to China.
Throughout the first six months since the handover, the government of the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) has adopted a positive attitude in improving the business environment of the Territory. External trade, in the first four months of this year, registered a trade balance of MOP330 million (patacas), a 231.8% increase compared to that of the same period last year; while the tourism industry welcomed three million visitors, showing is a growth of more than 20%.
With the objective of improving Macau’s business environment and providing a “One-Stop Service” for investors; the Macau SAR government, through the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM); has established an Investment Committee composed of ten different governmental departments. This committee will co-operate closely to provide support and orientation to investors, as well as handling all follow-up services and the necessary documentation for approval of investment plans. Under this Investment Committee, 8 investment programmes were successfully launched in Macau. These include projects in the manufacturing industries, such as shoe manufacturing, medicine and electronic products, as well as consultancy and Information Technology services. Capital for such investment originated from among others, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, SAR, the U.S.A. and Macau. In order to cope up with the diversification process in the industries of Macau, IPIM also has the responsibility of handling applications for non-financial offshore services. Besides this, IPIM is trying to promote a top class and innovative exhibition while making local products more competitive for the international market, by presenting an Information Technology themed pavilion at the 5th MIF.
The 5th MIF is aimed at attracting overseas exhibitors and visitors to explore Macau’s business environment, where investors are able to enjoy low production costs with huge trading opportunities. In this way, more external trade can be encouraged and better international relationships established. This year, the 5th MIF will be held at the Macau Landmark Convention and Exhibition Centre, a venue of international standards, equipped with state-of-the-art multi-functional communication systems, which allow businessmen from all around the world to gather at this unique occasion to explore the business and investment opportunities. Seminars and briefings will also be organised concurrently at the Fair to obtain more chances of business contacts amongst the participants. Governmental entities, associations and entrepreneurs from various countries and regions have already shown great interest in exhibiting at the Fair. These include Australia, Austria, Canada, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, and various provinces and cities of Peoples Republic of China. It is estimated that more that 30 delegations will participate in the Fair. When compared with the 11 countries and 20 delegations at last year’s Fair, this year’s MIF, in fact, is predicted to have a more discernible significance than previous years.
The organisation of such a great event, not only demonstrates the importance of economic co-operation of the Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macau triangle, but also reinforces Macau’s role as a trade link for the European Union and Portuguese-speaking countries with Peoples Republic of China.
