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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Secretary for Administration and the Chairman of the Steering Committee on Population Policy, Mrs Carrie Lam, at a media session after attending the public forum on population policy this afternoon (January 25):
Reporter: Chief Secretary, can you give a brief summary...
Chief Secretary for Administration: Today's forum is the third and the final of the district forums being organised to listen to public opinion on the population policy. As usual, we have heard a lot of diverse opinions and we will take these to heart in taking forward the work on the population policy. But I do certainly hope that all these discussions and expression of opinions are to take place in a more rational and peaceful manner, so that all those who attend these occasions will be able to listen carefully to the views expressed by those attendees. Now, this is a forum that has taken place after the Chief Executive has delivered his 2014 Policy Address. So I had also given the audience an account of the relevant initiatives in the 2014 Policy Address, which have a direct relevance to topics raised in the population policy consultation paper. And basically these initiatives fall into two categories. One is how to release more labour force into the job market, particularly amongst the women, ethnic minorities and also people with disabilities. So the Policy Address has introduced new initiatives to enhance child care, after-school care, support for women, and also package of measures to support employment amongst people with disabilities and the ethnic minority community. The second aspect is really to raise the quality or the talents of local people. So the Chief Executive has, in his Policy Address, announced several measures to increase the access to subsidised higher education (and) for our young people to broaden their horizons through various internship programmes and mainland and international exchanges. So we will continue to take forward the population policy discussions, taking account of these new measures introduced in the 2014 Policy Address. Thank you very much.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)¡@
Ends/Saturday, January 25, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:29
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