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Following is the speech (English portion) by the Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Raymond Young, at the launching ceremony of the DBC Digital We channel hosted by Digital Broadcasting Corporation Hong Kong today (November 13):
Albert (Mr Albert Cheng), Consuls General, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to be here today to witness the launching of DBC Digital We channel. As Albert said just now, the launching of DBC itself is actually a milestone in the history of broadcasting in Hong Kong because it is not only the first regular digital broadcasting station in Hong Kong, but Digital We is the first radio channel to be dedicated to servicing the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is an international and cosmopolitan city. We have attracted the talents from various ethnic groups to live and work here. It is the blend of the Eastern and Western cultures that makes the cultures in Hong Kong so unique, diverse and vibrant. It is, therefore, our mission to harness fully the resourcefulness of different ethnic groups to build Hong Kong into a better home for all.
In this connection, the Government is committed to assisting friends in ethnic minorities to integrate into the local community through a wide range of services undertaken by various bureaux and departments. Over the past years, the Government has commissioned non-governmental organisations to operate four support service centres for ethnic minorities, providing a wide range of services such as counselling and referral service, interpretation service, training classes and various integration programmes. We have also provided other support services such as community support teams, service guidebooks, Harmony Scholarships etc for ethnic minorities.
In 2011-12, we have set up a dedicated team in Home Affairs Department to strengthen our work on assisting ethnic minorities integrate into the community. We have implemented the district-based integration programmes for ethnic minorities in districts with higher service demands, and will launch the Ambassador Scheme by the end of this year to contact ethnic minorities proactively and provide them with necessary services. In 2012-13, we will set up an additional support service centre and two sub-centres, and provide additional radio programmes in ethnic minority languages.
I am pleased to see that DBC Digital We has partnered with different ethnic associations and NGOs in providing programmes in seven languages, including a programme in Hindi with the SHINE Centre, one of our four support service centres for the ethnic minorities. We look forward to strengthening our collaboration on producing a greater diversity of radio programmes for the ethnic minorities.
Finally, I wish DBC every success in its programmes and development. Thank you.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the speech.)
Ends/Sunday, November 13, 2011
Issued at HKT 17:34
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