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Maritime Silk Road Society & Savantas Policy Institute New Office Opening Ceremony

2020-06-16

The Maritime Silk Road Society (MSRS) and Savantas Policy Institute (SPI) today (16 June) jointly held an opening ceremony of their new office located at No. 23 Thomson Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

Those officiating at the ceremony included Mrs Regina Ip, Co-Chair of MSRS and Chairperson of Board of Governors of SPI; Mr Bernard Chan, Co-Chair of MSRS; Dr Louis Shih, President of MSRS and Vice Chairperson of SPI; Mr Suen Kwok Lam, representative of Dr Peter KK Lee, Chair of Youth Opportunities Committee of MSRS.

Addressing at the opening ceremony, Mrs Ip said, “MSRS and SPI have always been sharing an office since the inauguration of MSRS. Although the two organizations play different roles in the civil society, they interact, cooperate and complement each other strategically from time to time. Recently, both organizations rationalized their structure and decided to move to a new location to make better use of resources for sustainable growth.”

Mrs Ip continued, “MSRS was established to support the nation’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ and identify new developmental opportunities for Hong Kong, in particular local young people. In spite of the challenges brought about by the outbreak of the pandemic earlier this year, our team will strive to offer more assistance to the young people to identify and grasp opportunities.”

“SPI aims to conduct public policy research and analysis on Hong Kong’s political, economic and social issues; promote greater understanding of democratic values, culture, institutions, and conditions for the implementation of quality democracy in the Hong Kong SAR within the framework of the Basic Law and in accordance with the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’. An application for funding to organize a symposium on the Basic Law is underway, and plans are being made to conduct in-depth public policy research in the areas of tele-medicine, digital currency and better use of data for social benefits,” Mrs Ip added.

Mr Bernard Chan said despite the adversity encountered during the COVID-19 epidemic, MSRS’s summer internship programme "Operation Zhang Qian" received staunch support from 12 organizations providing 101 summer internship places to Hong Kong’s undergraduates. It is particularly encouraging that Xiamen Xiangyu Co Ltd has joined the programme this April as a newcomer. He noted that MSRS was grateful to Mainland enterprises for providing internship positions to Hong Kong young people during this difficult period.

Dr Louis Shih appreciated MSRS’s initiative in fighting against COVID-19 – sending medical supplies and making donation to Iran and Greece as well as handing out surgical masks and hand sanitizer to shops and passers-by in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay in caring for the community.

As regards the work plan of SPI, Dr Shih announced that SPI would continue to hold a series of seminars on the Greater Bay Area and consider organizing a symposium to raise public awareness and support for the "One Country Two Systems" policy and the Basic Law while exploring opportunities to partner with scholars to conduct public policy research.

On behalf of Dr Peter KK Lee, Mr Suen Kwok Lam said MSRS had always assisted Hong Kong youth to capitalize on opportunities under the Belt and Road initiative. The Youth Opportunities Committee was formed with the mission of implementing “Operation Zhang Qian” since 2016 and the “New Youth Management Trainee Programme” was launched for the first time to double up on the committee’s efforts. With Dr KK Lee as the Chairman of The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas), the company has always been committed to develop young talents. As such, Towngas has pledged four summer internship places for local undergraduates and provided two management trainee positions this year.

The ceremony also featured a roast pig cutting ceremony and concluded with a tour of the office.

(Video Link)

Photo Captions:

1. Remarks by Mrs Regina Ip at the new office opening ceremony. 

2. Remarks by Mr Bernard Chan at the new office opening ceremony.

3. Remarks by Dr Louis Shih at the new office opening ceremony.

4. Remarks by Mr Suen Kwok Lam at the new office opening ceremony.

5. Roast pig cutting ceremony.