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The Financial Secretary, Mr Henry Tang, chaired the 14th meeting of the Commission on Poverty this afternoon (May 3).
The commission said it was pleased to see increasing public recognition of the potential and benefits of social enterprises (SEs), and that the Administration was committed to supporting their further development.
Members discussed the future direction to further promote the development of social enterprises in Hong Kong, including measures to foster a tripartite partnership, as well as provide a continuum of support and a suitable institutional platform to promote them.
Mr Tang said he was grateful to the commission for its efforts in promoting SEs in the past, and for offering insights on how to help SEs become sustainable and better businesses in the longer run.
The commission considered that fostering a tripartite partnership between the community, the business sector and the Government was crucial to help make SEs better businesses. In this regard, the Government could play an important role in pooling the resources and expertise from the Government, the business community and the Third Sector to help promote SE development.
Members also noted that despite the growing awareness in the community about SEs, the concept was still not very well understood. They supported enhancing public understanding as part of the key strategies to further promote SE development.
In addition, members discussed the operational model in implementing the Child Development Fund, which was announced in the 2007-08 Budget Speech as an additional measure to tackle intergenerational poverty.
They agreed that the additional resources could be used to implement trial child development projects which contained two essential features - the development of personal development plans of children, and trying out an asset-based targeted savings scheme in Hong Kong. Members also discussed ways to encourage private sector support. They also deliberated on the targeted beneficiaries for the trial stage. The Government would consider the commission's recommendations in designing the detailed operational model of the fund.
The meeting took note of the reports from the Ad Hoc Group of the Elderly in Poverty and the Task Force on the District-based Approach.
The term of the commission will end in June 2007, and the next Administration would consider the suitable institutional structure to continue the work to prevent and alleviate poverty. In June, the commission will submit a report summarising its work in the past two and a half years.
The agenda and papers of the meeting are available at the Commission's website: www.cop.gov.hk .
Ends/Thursday, May 3, 2007
Issued at HKT 19:37
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