Youth Summit 2016 discusses topics chosen by young people (with photos)
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The Youth Summit 2016, jointly organised by the Home Affairs Bureau and the Commission on Youth (CoY), aimed to provide young people with a platform to express views on social policies.
The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, said in his welcome speech that the theme of this year's summit was "Tomorrow's Hong Kong, Youth Co-create", under which were three sub-themes, namely "Future town planning", "Roles of young people in community affairs" and "Challenges and opportunities for young entrepreneurs", selected by young people. He noted that young people attach importance to these discussion topics, which are also areas of concern for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. He added that the event aimed to collect young people's views in the process of formulating relevant policies so as to plan for Hong Kong's future with regard to young people's aspirations.
The Chairman of the CoY, Mr Lau Ming-wai, said the summit was one of the CoY's highlight events in providing a sophisticated platform for young people to exchange views on their topics of concern with people from all walks of life, including government officials and guest speakers from various sectors of society. He said it is believed that the young people's views, reflecting the pulse of the city, would provide suggestions from different perspectives for the Government's reference.
Mr Leung also attended the Youth Summit 2016 to listen to the young participants' concerns and suggestions on topics they are interested in. The young participants were eager to express their views and aspirations. The Chief Executive also responded to questions raised by participants and others submitted online to have direct communication with young people.
Government Principal Officials, including the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Gregory So; the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing; the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan; and the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas W Yang, as well as other guests from various sectors of society also attended the summit. They listened to the youth representatives' presentations on the participants' discussions on the sub-themes, had a discussion session with the young people and answered questions posed by the audience and submitted online.
Young participants aged 15 to 24 were openly recruited through the CoY website and the 18 District Offices of the Home Affairs Department to attend the summit. The views of young people from different backgrounds, including those in school and at work, were represented at the summit. A number of Youth Ambassadors were also recruited to assist in preparatory work and facilitating discussion among the young participants on different sub-themes. The participants have been preparing for the summit in the past few months. They attended a pre-summit workshop in October to exchange views with government officials, academics and guests and conducted group discussions on each sub-theme.
Views collected at the summit will be submitted to the relevant government bureaus for reference and follow-up. The Government will also continue to gauge the views of young people on social policies via different channels, and organise activities such as Youth Exchange Sessions to enable young people to have direct exchanges on their issues of concern with government representatives.
Ends/Saturday, November 26, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:31
Issued at HKT 17:31
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