Transcript of remarks by SLW on maternity leave

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, on maternity leave today (August 20) after attending a plenary session of the Asian Family Summit:

Reporter: Will the government pay for the part of the extra maternity leave, that is about four weeks?

Secretary for Labour and Welfare: We are looking at that particular direction. Because, as I just mentioned, for most places in the world, most of those parental leaves are financed by a kind of social insurance, which is normally paid by both employers and employees in terms of insurance. In Hong Kong, we don't have a social insurance for that particular purpose. So, we are examining the lessons that we can learn from other countries, where the government will pay part of the cost in maternity leave, but the details are yet (to be available) and up to our study and conclusion. So I have to wait until we finish the whole thing before I can say anything.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)