Hosted by the Government of Macao Special Administrative Region, the 2014 Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition (2014MIECF) was opened today (27 March) at the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel. The opening ceremony was officiating by Mr. Chui Sai On, Chief Executive of Macao SAR and other guests of honour. The three-day green event was held under the theme “Energizes Green Business Growth”.
In his welcome remarks, Mr. Chui Sai On, the Chief Executive of the Macao SAR said that the Macao SAR Government has set as its major policy this year to “Increase the Overall Capacity and Promote Sustainable Development” and that, with the support of the Central Government, the Macao SAR Government has been developing towards becoming a World Tourism and Leisure Centre as well as a trade and economic co-operation service platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries. The city also aims at implementing long-term policy mechanisms to strengthen environmental co-operation, building “ecological civilization” and making full play of Macao´s own advantages to enhance the overall capacity.
The Chief Executive added that, on the basis of the three principles of the “Environmental Protection Planning of Macao (2010-2020)”, namely, Enhancing the Environment for Living and Tourism, Promoting a Society for the Saving and Recycling of Resources as well as the Building of the Environmentally-friendly High-Quality Region, the Macao SAR Government has actively carried out relevant work to improve the environment and foster the development of the environmental industry, to be in line with the city’s orientation as a World Tourism and Leisure Centre.
He said that the annual MIECF attracted a great number of Mainland, local and overseas operators of the environmental industry to participate in the green exhibition and green forum and exchange opinions and ideas on environmental issues. MIECF has indeed played an effective role in the exchange of information and technology in the field of environmental industry.
The Chief Executive visited the MIECF exhibition venue before the opening ceremony.
At the opening ceremony, thematic speeches were given by three guest speakers. Mr. Feng Liang, Deputy Inspector of Department of Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection of the National Development and Reform Commission of the People´s Republic of China said that environment and development are the common challenges that the world faces nowadays and that the promotion of green development represents the confluence of interests of all countries. He pointed out that there is a huge market in the environmental industry for all countries, regions and enterprises of all over the world. He added that China considers the environmental industry as an important factor of the country´s opening up policy, and therefore China will continue to strengthen its co-operation with other countries, regions and organizations, to introduce and learn from the advanced concepts, treatment technology and management model of the said industry. He also believed that the annual organisation of MIECF by the Macao SAR Government plays a vital role in the promotion of the green and low-carbon concepts, and fosters the international and regional exchange and co-operation in energy saving and environmental protection industry.
Another keynote speaker, Mr. Tu Ruihe, Deputy Director General of the Department of International Co-operation and Deputy Director of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People´s Republic of China, representing Mr. Zhou Shengxian, Minister of Environmental Protection of the People´s Republic of China, said that, nowadays, the development of the green economy and the environmental industry has already become the common goal of all countries, creating a huge market and ample business opportunities in the environmental field, providing valuable opportunities for countries and enterprises to work together. He also stressed that MIECF´s theme – Thinking Green, Going Clean and Living Cool – is consistent with the ecological civilization concept that China is implementing vigorously at present. He said that, after a lapse of six years, since he last participated in MIECF, he was very pleased to see that both the size and attractiveness of the event have significantly enhanced, as denoted by the increasing number of visitors. Lastly, he hoped that the operators of the environmental industry in China could seize this opportunity to exchange views with their counterparts from all over the world and look for business opportunities.
Mr. Paulo Lemos, Secretary of State of the Environmental Affairs of Portugal said in his speech that Portugal and China has established long-term friendly relationship and co-operation since long time ago and that, on this basis, the two sides have been working together to develop the environmental industry. He also said that, at present the world is facing severe environmental problems and therefore there is a need putting more focus on the green industry, given that there is a huge market for the environmental technology industry with enormous business opportunities. In view of this, Portugal hopes that it will make progress in the development of new environmental technology through the country´s own efforts, and contribute to the growth of the global green industry.
The officiating guests of the 2014MIECF also included Ms. Qiu Hong, Deputy Director-General of the Liaison Office of the Central People´s Government in the Macao SAR, Mr. Feng Tie, Deputy Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People´s Republic of China in the Macao SAR; Mr. Chen Zhaoxiong, Executive Vice-Governor of the People´s Government of Hunan Province, Mr. Xu Ruisheng, Vice-Governor of the People´s Government of Guangdong Province, Mr. Huang Ribo, Vice President of the People´s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Mr. Luo Lihui, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People´s Political Consultative Conference of Yunnan Province, Mr. Wong Kam-Sing, Secretary for the Environment of Hong Kong SAR, Mr. Tam Pak Yuen, Secretary for Economy and Finance of Macao SAR, Mr. Lau Si Io, Secretary for Transport and Public Works of Macao SAR, Mr. Wu Qing, Deputy Secretary General of the People´s Government of Guizhou Province, Mr. Jiang Xiaoting, Director-General of the Environmental Protection Department of Sichuan Province, Mr. Yu Pinghe, Deputy Director-General of the Environmental Protection Department of Fujian Province, Mr. Liao Zhengwei, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Land Environment & Resources of Hainan Province, Ms. Shi Jing, Chief Engineer of the Environmental Protection Department of Jiangxi Province as well as Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and Former Chief Economist of the World Bank.
Various activities will be held during the three-day event including Green Forum, Green Showcase, Environmental Industry Networking Meeting, Seminars and Presentations as well as the Green Public Day, with the objective of promoting the development of the environmental industry.
