Hong Kong Hosts Inaugural Family and Women Development Summit to Promote Empowerment and Support Initiatives

Family and Women Development Summit starts new chapter for family and women's development

The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau (HYAB), the Women's Commission and the Family Council today (October 9) hosted the Family and Women Development Summit Hong Kong for exchanging experiences with different sectors of the community in respect of promoting family and women development, with a view to assisting in formulating more focused measures to further support family and women development.

Themed "Women's Strengths in Action, Family Values Across Generations", the inaugural Summit has gathered key officials responsible for policies on women or family from different regions, as well as successful women from various sectors, representatives of families from different backgrounds and related organisations and non-governmental organisations as guest speakers. It also attracted over 900 representatives from local and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area women's groups, the business sector, and relevant service organisations to register and participate. The Summit aimed at enabling them to share their experiences on women development issues of concern as well as family building and fostering family education and values.

The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, officiated at the Summit. In his remarks, he said, "Women have been playing a crucial role in driving Hong Kong's social and economic development. Women are as competent as men. Hong Kong women have achieved outstanding accomplishments in various fields, providing pivotal support for social development."

Mr Chan said that women not only contribute to social and economic development with their wisdom and strength, but also play a unique role in respect of family building as well as fostering family education and values. He said, "Family is the cornerstone of society. Chinese people have been attaching importance to families. The promulgation of the National 14th Five-Year Plan mentioned the need to strengthen family building, promoting the diversified development of family services. The country attaches great importance to family building. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government also focuses on the healthy development of local families."

Keynote speeches of the Summit featured the theme "Family and Women's Development as the Cornerstones of Social Harmony". Key officials responsible for policies on women or family from different places, including member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation Ms Ma Liejian; former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Ms Fu Ying; the Minister of Women's Affairs, Kingdom of Cambodia, Ms Ing Kantha Phavi; the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice Mak; and the Chairperson of the Women's Commission, Dr Eliza Chan, shared policies and initiatives taken by governments in empowering women and strengthening family building as well as their insights about family and women's development.

Miss Mak said in the keynote speech, "This is the first Family and Women Development Summit organised by the Government. Through the Summit, we hope to provide a new platform for individuals who are concerned about the development of local families and women, pulling together the efforts of the Government, the business sector, and the community. This will allow people from different sectors, backgrounds, and cultures to exchange experiences and insights, and to stimulate new ideas for formulating relevant measures."

Miss Mak said that the HYAB has been actively preparing multiple new measures related to family and women's development as covered in the 2023 Policy Address. She announced at the Summit the official launch of a one-stop family and women's information portal; the introduction of a three-year Maintenance Mediation Pilot Scheme through the Community Care Fund to provide mediation services related to maintenance for those in need; and the official launch of a new five-year Funding Scheme on the Promotion of Family Education on October 14 to support non-profit-making community projects in promoting family education.

Two thematic sessions were held at the Summit. The first session themed "Women's Strengths in Action" was chaired by the Deputy Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs (Home Affairs), Mr Nick Au Yeung. The panellists, including the Director of Division of Women's Affairs, National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council, Ms Li He; the Chief Executive Officer of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Company Limited Hong Kong Branch, Ms Li Zhang; the Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, Ms Bonnie Chan; the Executive Vice-President of the Strategy Development and Government Affairs, GBA of Ant Group, Ms Jennifer Tan; and the Founder of Mary Yu Design, Ms Mary Yu, explored the roles and contributions of women in driving the economic and social development of Hong Kong.

The second session with the theme "Family Values Across Generations" was hosted by the Under Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Mr Clarence Leung. Mr Leung, with the Director General of the Department of Family and Children's Affairs of the All-China Women's Federation, Ms Xu Xu; the Chairperson of the Family Council, Ms Melissa Pang; the Chief Executive Officer of the WEMP Foundation, Mr Alex Mo; a working mother and Founder of Simply Mask Limited, Ms Corina Cheng; the Founding Chairman of LoveXpress Foundation Ltd, Ms Kitty Poon; and a representative of ethnic minorities family, Ms Syed Kalsoom (Pinky), evaluated the importance of family education on building a caring and harmonious family from various perspectives to boost the healthy development of local families.

Exhibition booths were also set up at the venue to showcase the achievements of women's groups and family service organisations in promoting women's development and family education.

For details and the recording of the Summit programme, please visit the thematic webpage, familyandwomensummit.hk/hyab2024.

Family and Women Development Summit starts new chapter for family and women's development Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Family and Women Development Summit starts new chapter for family and women's development Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Family and Women Development Summit starts new chapter for family and women's development Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Family and Women Development Summit starts new chapter for family and women's development Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Family and Women Development Summit starts new chapter for family and women's development Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Family and Women Development Summit starts new chapter for family and women's development Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Family and Women Development Summit starts new chapter for family and women's development Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Family and Women Development Summit starts new chapter for family and women's development Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Family and Women Development Summit starts new chapter for family and women's development Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

FEHD strives to ensure food safety of school lunch boxes

To ensure food safety and hygiene awareness among schools and licensed food factories supplying school lunch boxes, and to cater for the new school year, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) and the Environmental Hygiene Branch of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) stepped up inspections of licensed food factories supplying school lunch boxes in various districts of Hong Kong and collected food samples for testing.

A spokesman for the FEHD said today (October 9), "Since July, the Department has inspected 46 licensed food factories supplying school lunch boxes and reminded operators of the proper way of handling school lunch boxes. At present, the CFS has collected 90 lunch box samples from those licensed food factories for microbiological examinations. Test results of all samples were satisfactory. The operation is ongoing."

Furthermore, to safeguard food safety on campuses, the CFS has arranged a series of online seminars for schools since July, highlighting food safety hazards such as choking and food allergies, and emphasising the need for vigilance among teaching staff and food handlers in schools. At the same time, schools are also reminded to order lunch boxes from suppliers that hold a valid Food Factory Licence issued by the FEHD and are endorsed to provide lunch boxes. Before signing contracts with suppliers, schools should visit the premises to ensure that food handlers observe food safety and hygiene practices.

The CFS has published "A Practical Guide for Ensuring Food Safety in Schools and Childcare Facilities", to which schools and childcare facilities can refer when choosing lunchbox suppliers and ensuring food safety on campus. Lunch box caterers can make use of the guideline "Developing a School Food Safety Plan Based on HACCP system (for School Lunch Box Caterers)" to learn more about how to enhance the safety of lunch box production. For further details, please visit the "Safe Food at School" thematic webpage (cfs.gov.hk/school).

FEHD strives to ensure food safety of school lunch boxes Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

FEHD strives to ensure food safety of school lunch boxes Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases