Dr Ismail [Dr Halima Ismail, Founder of Hope Federation Union],

Mr Tsang [Mr Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, Former President of Legislative Council],

Distinguished guests, teachers, parents and students,

Good afternoon.

It gives me great pleasure to be here at this competition today. First of all, I would like to congratulate Dr Ismail and the Hope Federation Union for organising the first-ever English civic education contest. I also want to take this opportunity to applaud all the students here today for making it to the final round. You should all be very proud of your achievement!

Youths are the future of Hong Kong, and I can see from this competition that the future is indeed very bright. We have young people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds all united by a burning passion to make positive contributions not only to our city, but also to the Mainland.

At the Equal Opportunities Commission, we are committed to creating an environment where the next generation can flourish. We firmly believe that we can only achieve this when young people partner with us to make the values of diversity and inclusion an integral part of everyday life. From our Youth Ambassador programme to our Racially Friendly Campus Recognition scheme, I am delighted to see that many young people already embrace our vision. I want to encourage more of you to join us on this journey to make Hong Kong a truly inclusive and pluralistic city.

Thank you once again for inviting me here today. I wish all the students the best of luck. No matter the outcome, you have already accomplished a major step, as the legal and civic knowledge you gained from this competition will no doubt help you become valuable members of society and empower you to shape a better tomorrow for all of us. Thank you very much.