Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, on the preliminary thinking of the abolition of the "offsetting" arrangement under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) System after attending a lecture and panel discussion in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University this evening (March 29):

Reporter: Secretary, wouldn't it be a little bit too optimistic to hope to scrap the "offsetting" mechanism by 2020? If we are talking about that, when is the latest that the Government has to unveil its final decision and final plan?

Secretary for Labour and Welfare: The initial thought we have about how to remove the "offsetting" mechanism of the MPF and the severance payment and long service payment is very initial. But these initial thoughts are based on the previous Administration's decision and also the views that we have heard so far from unions and employers associations. Based on the views that we have obtained and throughout our analysis we come up to this initial thinking. We hope to explain to them.

     I would say optimism is really because we are determined to solve this issue and to deal with this "offsetting", to remove this "offsetting" mechanism within this term of Government. This optimism, I would say, drives us to work hard to engage our stakeholders to ensure we have listened and incorporated (their views) as far as we can, as far as reasonable, to provide the best solution both to the employers and to the employees.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Thursday, March 29, 2018
Issued at HKT 20:47

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