The city will define a poverty line, taking a big step towards recognising and alleviating the plight of low-income earners, a government-appointed working group says.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's administration accepted the need to revive the Commission on Poverty, which his predecessor Donald Tsang Yam-kuen scrapped in 2007, the seven-member task force said.
Tsang's government had effectively turned a blind eye to the state of the poor, by refusing to recognise or adopt any quantitative measurement of poverty.
Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor would head the commission, while Leung would chair its annual summit, task force member Ho Hei-wah said.
"An internationally recognised standard will be used in establishing the poverty line," said Ho, who is also director of right's group the Society for Community Organisation.
He said the Leung administration acknowledged the need to set a standard to effectively define, pinpoint and tackle poverty.