Secretary for Home & Youth Affairs Alice Mak today led youth interns of the Home & Youth Affairs Bureau – UN Volunteer Internship Programme to visit the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (OCMFA).

The Hong Kong SAR Government launched the internship programme with the UN Volunteers and provides full funding support to local university students to undertake six-month volunteer placements in different UN agencies.

This helps expand young people’s horizons and develop their capabilities, while also providing them an opportunity to contribute to the international community as Chinese youth. The programme is offering 20 internship placements this year in different UN agencies located in Kazakhstan, Laos, Nepal, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Miss Mak expressed gratitude to the OCMFA for its support for youth work in Hong Kong and thanked its Department of International Organizations & Conferences for introducing OCMFA’s work to the interns, giving them an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the country's foreign affairs as well as the city's unique role in the country's opening up to the world and global governance.

She encouraged the interns to cherish the internship opportunity, showcase Hong Kong's distinctive advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world, and also tell good stories of the country and Hong Kong.

The youth interns will undertake volunteer placements in UN agencies such as the UN Development Programme, UN Children's Fund and Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN.