Secretary for Labour & Welfare, Dr. LAW Chi-kwong, distinguished panellists, moderators, guests and HSBC staff, Good afternoon and thank you for joining us here.

Today marks the 52nd anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966 calling upon the international community to step up its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.

It is only fitting then that we all are gathered here today to deal with an issue that strikes at the root of combating racial discrimination - the question of livelihood. We are all aware that access to equal employment is a fundamental right and one that can make a big difference to how one is viewed in society, not to mention how one views oneself.

As employers, each one of you has the power and influence to ensure that your workplaces are places of mutual respect, equal opportunities and fair treatment. I am certain that most employers do not consciously or deliberately discriminate. It is the unconscious, indirect or systemic inequality of treatment that I would like to direct your attention to.

Firstly, when I talk about having diversity in the workplace, I would like you to focus on local recruitment. How diverse is your local hiring? How many non-Chinese or people from racial minorities do you hire at different levels? Secondly, take a careful look at the recruitment criteria you post for your job vacancies to make sure they are commensurate with the actual needs of the job, particularly language. Lastly, on-the-job training or after-work classes may be considered to help meet those requirements, for example.

The reason I raise these very pointed questions is because of the sad reality faced by a section of our non-Chinese population in Hong Kong. The recent Hong Kong poverty report revealed that one in five ethnic minority household is below the poverty line, which is higher than the figure for the rest of the population. The major cause is seen as lower employment earnings due to lower education attainment and skill levels in general.

In order for this cycle not to be repeated with the younger generation, efforts have to be targeted at improving their employability through higher education and most importantly Chinese language acquisition. This is still a challenge for the education sector and the biggest barrier towards equal employment opportunities for the local ethnic minority youth as language is a recruitment criterion for a majority of the jobs available.

We need to change this scenario. While on the one hand we are trying to improve the education system to allow these children to gain proficiency in the local language and acquire higher education and skills, on the other hand, we need employers to recognise the hurdles they face and provide a leg up for these youth who may prove to be excellent candidates otherwise. In the business world, meritocracy and fair play are both important principles and they are by no means mutually exclusive. Many of our young ethnic minority citizens will become the important asset of your business, bringing with them unique cultural backgrounds and perspectives and adaptability to an ever changing world. In light of the government’s Belt and Road Initiatives, ethnic minority employees could bring invaluable inspirations and language skills to your new business adventures.

Today we will hear from organisations representing various sectors the initiatives and policies they have in place or may like to put forth to correct this glaring imbalance in a developed, modern, progressive city such as Hong Kong. Consider this session as an idea generating exercise where we can come up with innovative suggestions and policy recommendations to improve the employability of our non-Chinese people.

Once again, I thank you all for being here and hope that you will continue to have this dialogue within and outside your organisations.

Enjoy the seminar.