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Following is the speech - "Corporate Social Responsibility - a New Year Resolution" - by the Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang, at the Operation Santa Claus 2009 closing ceremony this afternoon (January 18):
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon to you all.
It is my great pleasure to join you all today. I would like to thank Bryan (Curtis) for extending to me the invitation to be here. I promise you this will not be a lecture.
First of all, congratulations to RTHK and the South China Morning Post on Operation Santa Claus 2009. Even during these very difficult economic times, companies, associations and individuals have shown great community spirit through their generous donations and Brian has mentioned a number of very generous donations.
I'm sure that I speak for many of you when I say how impressed I am with this year's recipients. All the charities have shown a great deal of dedication, determination and devotion to improving our community and the lives of our people. Let us give a round of applause to this year's recipients.
As you may be aware, I am quite busy right now preparing my upcoming Budget. That puts me somewhere between Santa Claus and Scrooge at the moment. And I seem to be oscillating from one personality to the other as I weigh the gravity of my concerns.
As all good public servants do, I shall endeavour to strike the right balance between stimulating economic growth, improving people's livelihood and achieving an optimal fiscal state. You can count on that.
Striking the right balance for the Budget has been uppermost in my mind of late and it got me thinking about my talk today. In particular about the responsibility we all have to the society that we live in.
The global financial crisis has brought into sharp focus the fine line between achieving healthy profits and dishing out excessive bonuses, between laying off workers and preserving jobs, and between good and not so good corporate governance.
Operation Santa Claus is about giving back to the community. Over the years, it has raised over $130 million for various charities. But Operation Santa Claus comes but once a year.
In parallel with Operation Santa Claus and similar valuable fund-raising activities, we also need to instill a culture of corporate social responsibility, or CSR, that lasts 365 days a year.
This brings me to the main theme of my talk today. CSR covers many areas including corporate philanthropy. But it is also about protecting the environment, responsible financial reporting, supporting employees, and fostering community spirit.
In Hong Kong, CSR is a relatively novel concept to many firms compared to parts of Europe or the US where it has become part and parcel of business culture. But our companies, large and small, are catching up fast. Since the Caring Company Scheme was launched in 2002, some 2,000 companies have been awarded the Caring Company Logo. The scheme is one way to raise awareness about CSR.
But what happens when recession hits, profits dive, companies fold and people are laid off?
I am pleased to say that, during the global financial crisis, not only has corporate social responsibility thrived, it has also gone some way to helping us weather the economic storm.
First, our financial institutions have proved to be more responsible risk-takers than their counterparts in many other parts of the world. Perhaps, learning some hard lessons from the Asian financial crisis a decade ago, our regulatory regime has become more transparent and our banks more responsible lenders.
It was also encouraging to see companies go the extra mile in preserving employment during the economic downturn. More than 1,000 companies even signed an agreement not to lay off staff during the global financial crisis. This helped to shore up confidence in our community, and we have maintained a relatively stable employment rate.
After peaking at 5.4% over the summer, the jobless rate has been on its way down. It currently stands at 5.1%, and I hope it will go down further. This compares with the 6.4% unemployment rate during the Asian financial crisis a decade ago and the 8.5% during SARS.
The Government has also worked hard and fast to preserve jobs and create new opportunities. We have brought forward the recruitment of civil servants and introduced new programmes and initiatives through the Labour Department.
In my Budget last year, I set aside some $1.6 billion to create some 62,000 jobs and training and internship opportunities. Companies and job seekers have responded positively to our initiatives.
Now, as our economy begins to emerge from the worst global financial crisis since the 1930s, we have an opportunity to take CSR to a whole new level.
Good corporate governance can help restore trust in companies that were hit hard during the financial crisis. Stronger co-operation and communication between companies and their stakeholders will help to make everyone more aware of their mutual responsibilities.
Looking ahead, environmental issues are likely to feature heavily on our radar screens.
Companies have a social responsibility to conserve energy, encourage green habits and adopt cleaner production techniques. Electric and hybrid vehicles, solar and alternative heating and more energy efficient buildings are some of the ways that corporations can indeed make a difference.
Here, Government is leading by example. We are incorporating energy-saving designs and technologies into our new and existing buildings. We also look forward to introducing electric vehicles into the Government's fleet.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are a couple of weeks into the new year. Resolutions have been made and - no doubt - some have already been forgotten.
I encourage you to join me in making a new resolution for 2010 and beyond. That is to give a higher priority to corporate social responsibility.
By instilling a deeper culture of CSR in our community, we can all look forward to an even brighter future for the whole community. And where better to start than right here at Operation Santa Claus.
Once again, congratulations to everyone involved in this mammoth fund-raising exercise.
I also wish the recipients a very successful year ahead.
Thank you very much and have a good day.
Ends/Monday, January 18, 2010
Issued at HKT 14:58
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