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The following is issued on behalf of the Council for Sustainable Development :
The Council for Sustainable Development wants to see a sustainable, holistic and comprehensive population policy for Hong Kong, noting that now a high-level Steering Committee on Population Policy has been established under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary for Administration.
"We welcome the establishment of the high-level Steering Committee to better plan and co-ordinate efforts on population policy, which signifies Government¡¯s determination to address relevant issues in a holistic and comprehensive manner," council chairman Dr Edgar Cheng said today (December 21).
"We look forward to comprehensive strategies and practical measures to be formulated by the steering committee to pursue the objective of Hong Kong¡¯s population policy," Dr Cheng said.
"The council is pleased to note that the Government has accepted all the principles and targets we have put forward in our engagement report submitted to the Government in June this year," said Ir Otto Poon, Chairman of the Council's Strategy Sub-Committee, which spearheaded the engagement process on population policy during June to October, 2006.
Ir Poon noted that, among other things, the Government has recently established a high-level Family Council and relaxed the eligibility criteria of the Employees Retraining Scheme, both of which were among the council's 24 recommendations made in its engagement report. Most of the other recommendations have been implemented or adopted by the Government as on-going measures.
Looking ahead, the council will continue to refine and enhance its engagement model in the light of valuable stakeholder feedback, to make it more inclusive, transparent and effective in formulating Hong Kong's sustainable development strategies. The council just completed the engagement process on air quality during which close to 82,000 responses were received and subsequently reviewed in the Air Summit held earlier this week. The council will submit its report with recommendations on the way forward for improving Hong Kong's air quality in early 2008 having regard to the consensus built.
Ends/Friday, December 21, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:17
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