Policy Address

Facilitating Senior Citizens' Retirement in the Mainland

68.       As the relationship between Hong Kong and Guangdong grows closer, some of our senior citizens want to retire in Guangdong.  There is also a suggestion in the community that the Government should introduce a maintenance allowance for our senior citizens who have retired.  This has legal, financial and technical implications that require detailed examination.  I have asked the Secretary for Labour and Welfare to study further the feasibility of such arrangements.

Population Policy Review

69.       The Steering Committee on Population Policy, chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, has been closely monitoring the latest population projections and co-ordinating the efforts of various bureaux to formulate related measures.  I have asked the committee to focus its study on two topics.  First, it will examine ways to facilitate and support our elderly people to settle in the Mainland after retirement if they so wish.  Second, the approximately 30 000 children born in Hong Kong to Mainland women annually in recent years are Hong Kong permanent residents, although most of them live in the Mainland after birth.  The committee will study in detail the ramifications of these children returning to Hong Kong to study and live.

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