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More service centres will be set up this year to further enhance support for ethnic minorities, the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, said today (August 15).
Speaking at a luncheon reception hosted by the Overseas Indian Organisation Hong Kong, Mr Tsang said the well-being of the ethnic groups is always kept in mind by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.
He noted that the Home Affairs Department is committed to assisting friends in ethnic minorities to integrate into the local community through a wide range of support services.
"We have commissioned non-governmental organisations to operate four support service centres for ethnic minorities, providing a wide range of services such as counselling and referral service, interpretation service, training classes and various integration programmes.
"To further enhance the work in this area, later this year we will set up an additional support service centre in Yau Tsim Mong District and two sub-centres in Sham Shui Po and Tung Chung. These new centres will organise language training to enhance proficiency in both Chinese and English, and also provide integration programmes for ethnic minorities," Mr Tsang said.
In addition, two new radio programmes in Hindi and Thai will also be provided for the target audiences to receive government information as well as news and entertainment.
Moreover, the Home Affairs Department has also introduced the district-based integration programmes in districts with higher demand for support services for ethnic minorities and an ambassador scheme to introduce services to ethnic minorities.
At the luncheon, Mr Tsang thanked the Indian community for their contribution to the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong. "With the spirit of mutual respect and understanding, different ethnic groups, including, of course, the Indian community, have helped make Hong Kong a vibrant, harmonious and caring society," he added.
Ends/Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Issued at HKT 15:31
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