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The Youth Summit 2012 jointly organised by the Home Affairs Bureau and the Commission on Youth (COY) will be held at the Youth Square in Chai Wan this Saturday (November 24). Youngsters from different backgrounds will exchange their views with the Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung, government Principal Officials and community personalities.
At the summit, the Chief Executive will listen to the participants' views on youth development policy and respond to questions from the audience and those submitted online. The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing; the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung; the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim; the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung; the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan; and community personalities will also attend to have direct dialogue with the young people and listen to their concerns and suggestions.
Organised every two years, the Youth Summit aims to provide young people with a platform to express views on social policies. The theme of this year's summit is "Voices of the Youth - Our Ideal...", under which four sub-themes are set to encourage exchanges on various issues of concern. The four sub-themes selected through online voting by young people and the public are "Our Ideal Career", "Our Ideal Home", "Our Ideal Education" and "Our Ideal Caring Community".
Through the COY website and the 18 District Offices of the Home Affairs Department, youth participants aged 15 to 24 were recruited to attend the summit. It is hoped that views of young people from different backgrounds and organisations, as well as those in school and at work, can be represented at the summit. Youth Ambassadors were recruited to assist in preparatory work, while youngsters were also recruited through universities in the Mainland and Macau to join the summit, with a view to fostering exchanges among young people of the three places.
The young participants have been busy preparing for the summit. In early November, they attended a pre-summit workshop to exchange views with government officials and guests and conducted group discussion on each sub-theme. Participants have continued to collate data and hold discussions in groups, and will give a presentation to summarise their views on relevant policies at the summit.
Young people and those interested can watch the entire summit live on the COY website (www.coy.gov.hk) and can submit questions on the topics discussed at the summit via the same website from tomorrow (November 21, with submissions having started at midnight) until midnight of November 23. The guests will respond to some of the online questions drawn by ballot at the summit.
Ends/Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Issued at HKT 14:00
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