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The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, and the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, together with Non-official Members of the Executive Council and Members of the Preparatory Task Force on the Commission on Poverty, held a consultation session this afternoon (August 17) with members of the industrial and business sector and representatives of employers to take heed of their views and suggestions on alleviating poverty.
Representatives from the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, the Hong Kong Chinese Importers' and Exporters' Association, the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong and the Employers' Federation of Hong Kong attended today's meeting.
Mrs Lam said, "The Chief Executive stated in his election manifesto that his guiding thoughts are developing the economy and encouraging industries to expand and thrive. Such moves in turn create more quality employment opportunities and bring about improvement to the overall structure of employment and the chances of upward mobility."
Members who attended the meeting put forward a number of suggestions for tackling poverty through promoting economic development and enhancing social mobility. The suggestions included promoting a diversified economy; leveraging opportunities on Mainland-Hong Kong economic co-operation; optimising the population structure and reviewing manpower supply and demand; improving supportive measures in education and vocational training; strengthening the assistance to the youth, the elderly, low-income persons and those aspiring to start up their own businesses; and integrating measures in housing, medical services, transport and child care to promote employment.
"Alleviating poverty is one of the top priorities of the Fourth Term Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. We will co-ordinate the macro policies and concrete measures of various bureaux and departments with a view to fostering economic development and strengthening employment assistance. Our approach is to tackle the fundamental issues of the poverty problem," Mrs Lam added.
Ends/Friday, August 17, 2012
Issued at HKT 20:50
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