HUMAN CATASTROPHES, global and domestic leadership, and the widening gap between rich and poor became burning issues for a group of top Hong Kong students when they were given a guided tour of the United Nations this summer.
The 30 students from various universities, including the Open University of Hong Kong, were given access to UN chambers, met Secretary-General Kofi Annan's speech writer and were shown a video featuring Mr Annan talking about his role in the 59-year-old organisation dedicated to world peace.
The students, many of whom have won awards for academic and extra-curricular activities, travelled to the US with the Global Citizenship Programme sponsored by the Dragon Foundation, chaired by former Chief Justice Sir Yang Ti Liang, and run by the Washington-based Institute of International Education.
Accommodation was provided at elite Columbia University, with students also staying with families in Connecticut. Conferences and seminars featuring top business people, Chinese ambassador to the UN Wang Guangya and internationally-acclaimed Aids researcher David Ho Tai-I, formed part of a packed itinerary. The young delegates said the trip helped them develop both a better awareness of the world and also a sense of the part they can play in it.
'One of the greatest things we have learned is what it means to be a global citizen,' said Suchita Nanwani, a law graduate from the University of Hong Kong. 'We watched video clips of various leaders like President George W. Bush and were asked to rate leadership qualities at a workshop. That made us think about leadership in Hong Kong.'
During the selection process, delegates had to present their views on pressing world issues before a three-member panel comprising chairman of the Commission on Youth Philemon Choi Yuen-wan; head of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, Doris Ho; and a member of the government's Central Policy Unit, Joseph Lian Yi-zheng.