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Following is a speech by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, at the "Youth Ambassador" Scheme Launching Ceremony and "I Pledge" Campaign today (July 19):
Mr Wong, Mr Tong, Mr Cheung, Ladies and Gentlemen, our young friends,
It gives me great pleasure to attend today the "Youth Ambassador" Scheme Launching Ceremony and "I Pledge" Campaign jointly organised by the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) and the Intellectual Property Department. I am deeply honoured to be an officiating guest of this event of immense significance.
As the saying goes, young people are the pillars of future society. Today, I am greatly delighted to witness that more than 1,600 members of 11 local youth uniformed organisations, as well as friends from the creative industries and intellectual property right sector are getting together to make contributions to a meaningful and rewarding objective in a common bond. To the general community of Hong Kong, this is something to be rejoiced at.
In the wake of the on-going development of society and the burgeoning knowledge-based economy, one of the priorities of the SAR Government is to protect our creative industries. We are fully committed to setting up a robust and effective system which can give protection to intellectual property rights, as well as a fair and sound legal framework. In the field of law enforcement, C&ED has been taking stringent actions against infringements of intellectual property rights. As a result of its relentless efforts, the problems of piracy and counterfeit merchandise have been brought under control.
As the Internet develops at a tremendous pace, on the one hand we enjoy the high level of convenience and all the fun it has offered, on the other it has posed great challenges to those responsible for enforcing the law. Every day, using their creativity and supported by high-tech equipment and expertise, law enforcers are engaged in virtual space in an intellectual battle with offenders carrying out illicit activities on the Internet.
However, given the infinity of the cyberspace, it is quite impossible for the law-enforcing officers to station themselves at every corner. The "Youth Ambassador" Scheme that is launched today by C&ED in conjunction with the intellectual property rights sector and 11 youth uniformed organisations in Hong Kong is exactly designed to inject a large monitoring force into the Internet to back up the law-enforcement agencies, so that we could jointly create a piracy-free environment and protect the local creative industries.
There is yet another profound implication. It is gratifying to see that the pillars of tomorrow's Hong Kong are playing a positive role not only for today's society, but also for their own future by undertaking to protect intellectual property rights. I hope that after today's launching ceremony, this growing force of righteousness will spread far and wide. I would also like to wish the organisers tremendous success in the "Youth Ambassador" Scheme and "I Pledge" Campaign.
Thank you very much.
Ends/Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:25
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