The importance of the family as a core value of our society cannot be underestimated. Family is the most fundamental bond between individuals. It is the most important fabric weaving our community together.

A healthy and happy family provides a source of strength and an intimate caring and supportive environment for its members. It is starting from the family that we learn basic social skills and moral values, develop relationships, share what we have with others, learn to cope with conflict and crisis and learn to love, give back, and care for one another.

Healthy, functioning families impact positively on social harmony and stability, and create a conducive environment for the sustainable development of our society. There is an old Chinese proverb that one should properly manage one's family before fixing problems of the country and the world.

We Chinese are known for our commitment to family values, which include a strong emphasis on filial piety. However, the pressures of modern life can place extra strain on the family unit.

The theme of today's symposium - "Families in Asia: Challenges & Opportunities" succinctly highlights the importance of understanding the changing needs and demands on families in our part of the world. This is a timely platform for discussion and sharing of expertise, experiences and research, as well as networking among government officials, professionals, academia and other stakeholders around the world.

The Hong Kong Government is committed to providing enhanced support to strengthen families and build a more caring and harmonious society. The provision of family support work spans various Government bureaux and departments. For example, the Social Welfare Department, together with other non-governmental organisations, operates a territory-wide network of integrated family service centres to provide a continuum of preventive, supportive and therapeutic welfare services to families in need.

The Government has taken the lead in promoting a pro-family work environment by implementing a five-day work week for its 160,000 employees. The final phase of this initiative came into effect last July. It is encouraging to see a number of private-sector businesses following our example by adopting this family-friendly strategy.

We are also taking steps to relieve the burden of people who take care of their parents and other family members. This is achieved through tax allowances and support services such as training for elderly carers, counselling services and healthcare.

To encourage mutual care and support across generations, the public housing allocation system has built-in factors that give special consideration to applicants who take care of family members with special needs.

Moreover, we have produced a series of announcements in the public interest and television programmes to promote important family values such as role modelling, love and care, harmony and commitment.

On the employment side, the Labour Department has been promoting various family-friendly employment practices to employers and human resources practitioners through its network of tripartite committees and human resources managers clubs formed in different trades and industries.

As another Chinese proverb goes, each family has its own problems, each city also faces its own unique challenges when it comes to family support. Hong Kong is fortunate in that it has a robust economy, which has almost tripled in size over the past two decades, with our GDP soaring at an average annual rate of 5.1% in real terms.

Our per capita GDP is one of the highest in Asia at US$27,680 and our citizens enjoy a high standard of living. But this economic growth has brought fresh challenges to families. Many people are working longer hours and are often under pressure in their jobs. This inevitably affects their social and family lives.

If both parents are working, their relationship with their children or other family members may suffer. Hong Kong, like many other cities today, also has to deal with an ageing population.

We also need to deal with some unique challenges such as a rising number of cross-boundary marriages. In some cases, these new family members arriving in Hong Kong find it difficult to adapt to life in our city. If these challenges are not addressed properly and immediately, they can develop into more serious social problems in future.

Often, the issue at the crux of the matter is that any family members and their problems actually lie in the home. These need to be tackled from the family perspective, or our efforts risk being undermined.

In his Policy Address last October, our Chief Executive announced the setting up of a high level and strategic Family Council to better meet these challenges and to implement policies and initiatives relating to family support.  

The Family Council was launched last month and was placed under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary for Administration. Because many of the policies relating to the family cut across different bureaux or departments, the key objective of the council is to facilitate and improve coordination of policies and programmes from the family perspective.

More specifically, the Family Council promotes a family-based support network to forge closer and more harmonious relationships; the council advises the Government on the formulation of policies and strategies for supporting and strengthening the family and on the development of related programmes and activities.

It also deliberates on the integration of family policies and related programmes for individual age and gender sectors to ensure effective coordination among family members.

Members of the Family Council bring their own specific expertise in areas such as the elderly, women and youth. Under the umbrella of the council, we can better pool our resources and expertise, as well as take a more holistic approach to problem solving.

At our first meeting last month, the Family Council had a useful exchange of views on the overall direction of its work and specific issues to be addressed in the months ahead. These issues included identification of core family values; ways to create a pro-family environment including work environment; and ways to enhance the effectiveness and co-ordination of family education.

The Hong Kong Government and the Family Council will be working closely with key stakeholders to study ways to promote and deepen various family-friendly measures, enhance public awareness, and promote better public understanding on matters relating to the interests of families. I am confident that, hand-in-hand, we can make good progress in these areas.

Acting Chief Secretary Michael Suen gave this addressat the inauguration of and the inaugural symposium opening ceremony of the Consortium of Institutes on Family in the Asian Region.