Speech by SLW at Summit on Good Health and Well-being in the World's Richest City Hong Kong (English only)
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Dr Joseph Lee (Co-Chairperson of HKSGV and President of Wofoo Social Enterprises), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon. It gives me great pleasure to join you at the Hong Kong Shared Good Values Summit on Good Health and Well-being in the World's Richest City Hong Kong.
Since the days when the Hong Kong Council of Social Service started to promote "Caring Companies", corporate social responsibility (CSR) has already been part of the vocabulary of doing business today. The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Ltd has already made environmental, social and governance reporting as a requirement since 2016. Yet, the discussion of creating shared value in Hong Kong was made only in recent years.
In essence, CSR is not just doing CSR per se. It is important to practise strategic CSR, and a CSR strategy that links the company business with a social issue will create greater opportunity to leverage the company's resources and to benefit the society. Sharing some elements of a company's value chain in dealing with a relevant social issue will provide the best benefits to both the company and the society.
Therefore, I must thank HKSGV for organising this summit. This afternoon, experts and caring citizens are coming together to explore some of our society's most pressing issues and concerns. Some of the topics to be discussed later will fall squarely in my policy portfolio. I very much look forward to your contributions and inspirations.
Some of you are already very familiar with the efforts that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has made in the past to promote tripartite partnership, i.e. the Government, the private sector and the non-governmental organisation (NGO) sector. The strategy adopted by the Government is to provide financial incentives to promote better partnership between the private sector and the NGO sector in dealing with social issues. Examples are the Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged, the Child Development Fund and the Enhancing Self-Reliance Through District Partnership Programme, commonly known in Chinese as "伙伴倡自強". Yet, it takes the initiatives of NGOs and their business partners to make good use of these funds.
On this note, I wish the summit every success. Sharing wisdom and knowledge among the participants from the various sectors in this summit will definitely make Hong Kong a better place to live in.
Thank you very much.
Ends/Thursday, September 19, 2019
Issued at HKT 16:12
Issued at HKT 16:12
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