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The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, joined the visiting Queen of the Belgians, Her Majesty Queen Mathilde, this morning (December 6) to visit Benji's Centre, which was regarded by Mr Cheung as "a shining example of tripartite partnership that warms the hearts of needy children and parents".
Benji's Centre in Sham Shui Po is a non-governmental organisation founded by the couple Raymond and Viola Wong to provide one-on-one speech therapy services for children and teenagers from low-income families with special needs in speech and language training.
While the centre is mainly funded by a social enterprise, Mr Cheung said the Government had also provided significant funding support through the Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged, which was set up in 2005 to promote tripartite partnership among the welfare community, the business sector and the Government to help the disadvantaged and enhance social cohesion in Hong Kong.
"Improving people's livelihood and well-being rank high on the Hong Kong Government's agenda. In the current financial year, the estimated recurrent expenditure in social welfare, education and medical services will amount to $170 billion, or 60 per cent of recurrent government expenditure. This represents an increase of 50 per cent or $55.1 billion over the provision in 2007-08," Mr Cheung added.
Also present at the visit today was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and European Affairs of Belgium, Mr Didier Reynders.
Ends/Friday, December 6, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:17
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