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The Commission on Poverty (CoP) convened its 14th meeting this afternoon (November 24). As the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, was out of town on a duty visit, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, chaired the meeting to continue discussion on retirement protection.
After receiving a presentation made by the research team led by Professor Nelson Chow on the "Future Development of Retirement Protection in Hong Kong" report at the last meeting, members noted that the issue attracted a lot of discussion from different sectors of the community, including experts who have been engaging in the work of retirement protection and academics who have been conducting research into the subject. The CoP had therefore invited the Chairman of the Hong Kong Retirement Schemes Association and former Head of the Global Pensions Practice under the Social Protection Department of the World Bank, Ms Yvonne Sin, to brief members at today's meeting on the concept of the World Bank's five-pillar model on retirement protection. The CoP also invited the Head of the Department of Asian and Policy Studies of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, Professor Chou Kee-lee, to present his study and views on the reform proposals for Hong Kong's retirement protection.
In addition, with regard to views expressed by various sectors in the past three months on the "Future Development of Retirement Protection in Hong Kong" study report, members continued discussion on the future development of retirement protection, including how to take this subject forward. Considering that different sectors have diverse views on retirement protection, which is a highly complex subject, members agreed that it is necessary to collect and consolidate views from different sectors in society by conducting a public consultation. Members exchanged initial views on the framework, issues to be covered and the format of the public consultation. Members agreed that as the CoP is about to change its terms of office, these issues need to be discussed further in the meetings of the new-term CoP.
Ends/Monday, November 24, 2014
Issued at HKT 20:46
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