Briefs | Beijing endorses Macau’s Covid-19 prevention results

The leader of the Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, Han Zheng, has endorsed the Macau government’s efforts to prevent Covid-19 from spreading across the city. Earlier this week, Han Zheng met with Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak and other high-ranking officials from the Macau security force in Beijing. Han told Wong that the central government has consistently monitored Macau’s development, with Beijing noticing the good work of Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, who immediately took measures to control Macau’s Covid-19 situation.

Melina Leong to join Asian Gaming Power 50 judging panel

Casino industry publication Inside Asian Gaming has announced that Melina Leong, managing director of Yeewood Consultancy Ltd, has joined the judging panel for the Asian Gaming Power 50 in 2020. Leong joins an esteemed panel of judges that includes regulators, scholars, consultants and experienced industry commentators. The 13th edition of the annual gaming event will be held on November 6 at the Parisian Macao integrated resort.

FDCT subsidized 16 Covid-19 research projects

The Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT) has subsidized a total of 16 research projects related to Covid-19. Recently, the FDCT held a meeting at which a mid-term report on Covid-19 research was presented. The fund received 74 applications, 26 (35%) of which were given the subsidy. These research projects will take between three months to one year to complete. In total, the FDCT provided 10.07 million patacas in subsidies. All of these projects must be concluded by the first quarter of 2021.

Macao Foundation’s new subsidy rules worry cultural sector

Changes the Macao Foundation has made to its subsidy approval rules have worried some members of the city’s cultural industry. Recently, the foundation announced that it had introduced a competition mechanism to help the Macao Foundation select better projects to subsidize. The president of the Art For All Society Macau, Alice Kok, believes that the new policies will make the operations of the cultural industry more difficult for applicants. Another cultural representative, the CEO of the Theater Farmers, surnamed Lei, worries that this new policy may end up making her theater into a part-time operation, whereas it is now full-time. However, the deputy director of the Macao Cultural Heritage Reinventing Studies Association, Pong Chio Fai, thinks the new regulation sets up clear principles for subsidy applications and believes it will be a good change in the long term.