SHYA leads United Nations youth volunteer interns to visit OCMFA (with photos)
2.3.2023

The Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice Mak, and the Commissioner for Youth, Mr Wallace Lau, led more than 10 youth volunteer interns under the "United Nations Volunteers - Hong Kong Universities Volunteer Internship Programme" to visit the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (OCMFA) today (March 2) and met with Deputy Commissioner of the OCMFA Mr Yang Yirui. Representatives of the Agency for Volunteer Service, which co-organised the Programme, also joined the visit. The youth volunteer interns will depart to undertake six-month voluntary placements in United Nations (UN) agencies (e.g. the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, etc) in Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal and Thailand starting from this month. The Chief Executive stated in his 2022 Policy Address that the Government should create opportunities for children to develop and flourish while nurturing a new generation of young people with an affection for the country and for Hong Kong, and possessing global perspectives, who will contribute to the country and the city. Since 2015, the Government has collaborated with the United Nations Volunteers to launch the Programme. The Government provides funding support to local university students to undertake voluntary placements in different UN agencies so as to help them develop their personal capabilities and expand their horizons, and also provide an opportunity for young people to contribute to the international community as a Chinese youth volunteer. During her remarks, Miss Mak expressed gratitude to the OCMFA for its support to the Programme, especially the arrangement of today's visit. She also thanked the Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Organizations and Conferences, Mr Yang Guowei, for his introduction of the work of the OCMFA to the youth volunteer interns, which helped deepen their understanding of the country's participation in international affairs prior to their departure for the placements. She hoped that the interns could enhance their inter-cultural competence and broaden their global perspective through this valuable experience, as well as understand China's contributions and influences across the global landscape. She added that the Programme had all along been well received by young people, but it had to be suspended for the past three years due to the pandemic. With the resumption of normal travel of persons between Hong Kong and other places, the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau (HYAB) is resuming youth activities outside Hong Kong in a gradual and orderly manner, and the Programme would be the first of such an internship programme. As stated in the Youth Development Blueprint released last December, the HYAB will further enhance the breadth and depth of internship and exchange programmes in the Mainland and overseas as part of the multi-pronged approach to further promote Hong Kong young people's understanding of the country and the world.