Participation with IEEM in the 2009 MIECF
2009-04-06

The EU Pavilion

Business matchings area

Hosted by the Macau government, coordinated by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) and the Environmental Council of Macao, with the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China and the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China as the special support, the 2009 Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition (2009 MIECF) was held at the Cotai Strip Convention & Exhibition Center at the Venetian Macau between 2nd April to 4th April. It was a governmental-led event which promoted greater local and international green co-operation in environment, business and connection. Under the theme of “A Global Green Gathering – Environment Business Connection”, the 2009 MIECF aimed at promoting green spirit and conveying the social responsibility of environmental protection, as well as elevating the international status of Macao in the field of environmental protection industry.

This year, an EU Pavilion was funded and organized by the EUBIP in the Fair in order to consolidate the overall EU image to the visitors. The EU Pavilion was a major focus of the event because of its well-designed layout and strategic position in the venue. Moreover, the Pavilion provided a one-stop location for the visitors who were looking for European suppliers or co-operation in the green business. The Pavilion was composed of some EU Consulates General Offices and European Chambers of Commerce together with around 20 European companies located in Hong Kong and Macao. Taking advantage of the Fair, the Contact Point in Macao and the Institute of European Studies of Macao (IEEM) joined the EU delegations in the Pavilion to promote our roles and services to the visitors and establish closer linkage with entities from Macao, Hong Kong and companies from other parts of the world. To enhance communication and information exchange, our centre also took part in seminar and networking lunch organized by the EC Office in Hong Kong and Macao. During the 3-days event, the EU Pavilion had received more than a thousand professional visitors and a lot of them had shown interests in the products and services provided by the participating companies and looking for possible co-operation.

There were 254 exhibitors taking part in 2009 MIECF; which included government departments, public entities, enterprises, chambers of commerce, environmental protection organizations from Macao, Hong Kong, PRD regions, and national Consulate General Offices based in Hong Kong etc. The total exhibition area covered some 12,000 square meters. The exhibits were mainly of energy-efficient and water-saving technology, solar power generation technology, domestic-waste collection and recycling technology, wind energy program, oil program technology etc. During the Fair, 24 products’ and services’ presentations and a host of activities were held, which included symposiums (Energy Saving, Emission Reduction and Carbon Trading Symposium; Natural Disaster Management Symposium), conferences and forums.

The public Open Day—last day of the event drew a large number of visitors, which were entertained by the exhibits, games and performances. Many visitors showed great interests in the latest environmental-friendly products and vehicles, air purifiers, energy-saving light bulbs and energy-efficient lamps. Visitors not only could learn more about environmental protection and energy reduction from panels and games, the 2009 MIECF also provided an opportunity for parents to educate their children about the importance of protecting the nature.

As reported by the organizer, the 3-days “green” event registered a total of 5,697 participants, of which 3,901 were professional representatives, 43 countries and regions. 20 projects (11 agreements, 4 letter of intent, 3 contracts and 2 memorandums) were signed on-site, which worth 2.502 billion patacas in total. The signatories were mainly from Macao, Mainland china, Hong Kong, Brazil, Portugal, United States, Finland, Belgium etc. Moreover, 67% of these enterprises were small-and-medium-sized enterprises from Macao.