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The Financial Secretary, Mr Henry Tang, visited Wong Tai Sin District today (October 20) to gain a better understanding of the latest developments in the district.
Accompanied by the District Officer, Mrs Teresa Wong, Mr Tang visited the Human Resources Training Centre of Hong Kong Employment Development Services Ltd (HKEDS) at Lower Wong Tai Sin Estate. The mission of the HKEDS is to provide career counselling, job matching and vocational training to people looking for jobs. HKEDS also helps employers recruit suitable staff and provides human resources development services to various industries.
At the training centre, Mr Tang inspected a tailor-made catering servers retraining class, a Western-style cooking class for a group of youths under the Youth Pre-employment Training Programme, and a language training class organised for new arrivals.
Mr Tang then joined a tea gathering with a group of trainees who attended different training courses organised by the centre. They shared with Mr Tang their experiences in attending the training and the subsequent job search.
Mr Tang was pleased to learn that the trainees considered the courses they attended useful in providing them with a better understanding of the relevant industries and the necessary work skills. More important, most trainees indicated that the courses had been useful in enhancing their self-confidence and motivated them to find jobs more actively so that they would be able to practise what they had learned.
He encouraged the trainees to face the challenges brought by economic restructuring upfront through continuous education and maintain a positive attitude.
He said the Government estimated that the newly introduced Private Vehicle Registration Mark Scheme would generate a net revenue of $60 million a year. For the next five years, the Government will set aside $60 million each year for poverty alleviation work and $30 million of which would be used to reinforce work in preventing and alleviating poverty at the district level.
In 2006-07, the Government has allocated $30 million for district-based poverty alleviation projects. Mr Tang believed that these programmes could mobilise community resources more effectively, offer support to district-based solutions and address local needs more precisely, and create employment opportunities and support services on a more sustainable basis.
Mr Tang then toured Tsz Wan Shan Shopping Centre in the afternoon. He chatted with shopkeepers and people there to get their views on the economic and employment situations as well as challenges faced by residents in the district.
Ends/Friday, October 20, 2006
Issued at HKT 19:41
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