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SCMP Reporter

Four young people from the territory gave an audience of 200 youths from around the world a clear picture of Hong Kong as it stands poised to return to China next year.

   The four were delegates from the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, and they were attending the International Youth Forum on Youth and Population, held recently in Seoul, South Korea.

   In its seventh year, the forum was jointly organised by the National Council of Youth Organisations of Korea, the Asian Youth Council, and the World Assembly of Youth.

  The forum's theme - Youth and Population - was adopted in 1994 when the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development launched the Cairo Agenda.

   The agenda recognises the importance of youths in the formulation of population policies.

  The Hong Kong delegates attended lectures and workshops on topics ranging from the Cairo Agenda, population and development policies to religion, family planning, and the AIDS issue.

  They also shared with their overseas peers facts about Hong Kong youths and population.

  They discussed issues such as the rising youth crime rate and declining moral standards, the growing economic burden on the youth population, AIDS and sex education, the population explosion, and the shortage of resources.

  'The government plays an important role in controlling a nation's population, both in terms of quality and quantity,' said Isaac Nip Yiu-keung, one of the delegates.

  The Hong Kong Education Institute student said society should invest in educating young people so as to upgrade the quality of the entire population.

  The delegates said they decided to focus on Hong Kong people's reaction to the handover because of international concern over the issue.

  'I expected many queries about Hong Kong's future and the changeover,' said another delegate, Christine Wong Mei-kuen, a first-year Public Administration and Management student at the City University of Hong Kong.

  Jacky Leung Wai-kin said he was keen to introduce the unique city of Hong Kong to young people from other lands.

  'Hong Kong is known for its economic success and commercial development,' said the third-year accounting student of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

  'But Hong Kong youths do not seem to recognise the importance of national identity,' Jacky added.

  Catherine Pang Wai-shan, a surveyor in a private firm, said Hong Kong people were facing an identity crisis because of the transfer of sovereignty.

  The four delegates also presented interesting displays on Hong Kong at the forum.



Handover takes the spotlight