Exclusive Interview with Vitor Ng, President of
the Macau Exporters and Importers Association

Government Services Being Improved
In the past few years, the Macao SAR Government has made a lot of efforts to improve its service to the public and attract in more foreign investment. As to whether moves taken by the Government are good enough for the market or not, Mr. Ng stressed that the Government has indeed done a lot to cater for the market, and that the most significant move is the launching of an performance pledge system. Mr. Ng said, “Performance pledge leads to better service, increased transparency in issuing trade quotas and more responsiveness to the business community.”

Mr. Ng further pointed out that the outlook for investments in Macao was good. “the investment environment is not something that is independent of the overall economic environment. Guided by the policy in which the gaming industry is the main engine and the tertiary industry being the main player, Macao is a good choice for investors.”

According to Mr. Ng, who has witnessed Macao’s past ups and downs, the Special Administrative Region is undergoing an economic restructuring, and some industries are faced with grave difficulties. He said frankly, “It is only natural that some industries are faring better than others amidst the current economic transition. But that certainly does not mean that Macao’s investment environment is bad. On the contrary, the overall investment environment is good, and only some industries and some small and medium-sized enterprises are having a few problems.” Mr. Ng predicts that the granting of three gaming concessions will pour more than 10 billion patacas into Macao over the next two years, and this will directly benefit the construction sector as well as other industries. More investment means more jobs, strong consumption and hence a better overall economic situation.

Gone Are the Golden Days for the Manufacturing Industry
For a long period of time, the manufacturing industry took the lion’s share of Macao’s export. It was the economic pillar of Macao between the 1960s and 1990s. Mr. Ng points out that Macao has only about 400,000 residents, so it in itself is not a big market. That is why it needs foreign markets for its economic growth. The manufacturing industry is facing competition from some developing countries where production costs are lower. The phasing-out of trade quotas in a few years’ time will make things even worse. “Shifting economic structures and changes in the world economy will pose new challenges to the manufacturing industry. But we shall not jump to the conclusion that Macao's overall economic environment is bad. Rather, we are shifting to a new economic model.”

Do the current difficulties affecting the manufacturing industry spell its end in Macao? How can the manufacturing industry cope with the new economic model? Mr. Ng believes the manufacturing industry will be able to overcome its difficulties. “Although the golden days for the whole industry are gone, we expect some companies that enjoy good relationship with buyers to do well. Manufacturers throughout the world either produce famous brands, medium-level or cheap products. We are not capable of producing those high-end famous brands, and we are not competitive enough to make our products really cheap. But we are quite good at producing those medium-level product.” Mr. Ng emphasises that price is everything to low-end products, but manufacturers’ capability of maintaining good relationship with their buyers counts in the medium-level product area. According to Mr. Ng, if manufacturers in Macao can pay attention to product quality, maintain good relations with their buyers and be sensitive to the market, the industry will pick up again.

Mr. Ng is confident that local manufacturers can maintain the level of their exports to the United States until 2005, when the global trade quota system will be abolished. “The United States will surely levy some sort of quota restriction on the Chinese Mainland, which we can take advantage of that.”

Macao Can be a Logistics Centre
In addition to the tourism sector, the logistics industry is another key industry on the SAR government’s development programme. Macao is now establishing itself as a logistics centre, reviewing related laws and regulations and reaching out to prospective partners in neighbouring regions. There is now a semi-direct air cargo service between Shenzhen and Taipei via Macao, so the Mainland and Taiwan have become the main customers of Macao's logistics service. But with the prospect of “three direct links” between Taiwan and the Mainland all that may change.

“Personally I believe “three direct links” is still a long way off. The controversy is all about different interpretations of ‘One country’. The Mainland believes three direct links is a domestic issue of one state, while Taiwan maintains that it belongs to state-to-state affairs. As long as there are no direct links between the two sides, there will be opportunities for Macao. But we should not be overly dependent on Taiwan. We should watch for opportunities on the Mainland, neighbouring regions, Japan, South Korea, and even the United States and Europe,” Mr. Ng told Macao Image.

The veteran business community leader also said that virtually all goods from the Pearl River Delta were currently being shipped overseas via Hong Kong, but Macao could serve the western part of the Delta, given its proximity and lower costs. “Logistics is divided into local logistics and international logistics. We are able to do international logistics only. We have done a lot of work in this respect, but much remains to be done. At the moment there are two major problems, the first being transportation and the second is how to promote Macao in the global market. Moreover, we are not like Hong Kong, they have been in the market for a long time and they have their connections. So we need to establish our own network since we are newcomers.”

Macau Exporters and Importers Association
The Macau Exporters and Importers and Association was originally called Macao Exporters Association. It was set up in 1965 with only around 20 founding members. In 1990, the association was enlarged and renamed Macao Exporters and Importers Association in order to better serve Macau’s economic development and foreign trade. It is now one of the big five business associations in Macao, totalling over 200 members. Almost all of Macao’s traders are its members, so the association is highly representative.

The purpose of the association is as follows: To promote and defend Macao’s external trade; to unite and serve all importers and exporters and help them solve any problems they might encounter; to monitor competition among members; to serve the whole society. The association is active in the following fields: To participate in the formation of political and public affairs; for example, the association has several members who have for many years served as members of the Legislative Assembly and certain economic consultancy bodies; to organise business and trade delegations in order to establish contacts and to hold talks with counterparts abroad; to mediate trade-related disputes; to provide consultancy services and to assist members in obtaining United States and Canadian business visas; to launch publications and to provide business information; and to introduce local products to foreign partners.