President Lee Teng-hui this morning sends a congratulatory message to the 1997 International Conference on "Toward the 21st Century:State, Family, and Social Welfare" held today in Taipei. In his message, the President extends his warm welcome to participants coming from other countries and wishes the conference a great success.
The full text of President Lee's message is as follows:
Chairman Chen, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am pleased to learn that the 1997 International Conference on Toward the 21st Century: The State, Family, and Social Welfare opens here in Taipei, the Republic of China, bringing together scholars and experts from all over the world for exchanges of views to facilitate this countrys welfare development. The conference has great significance and I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to all of you and sincere welcome to those distinguished guests from afar.
Social welfare is always an important bench mark of national modernization. Over the past forty odd years, the ROC has striven under difficult circumstances to fulfill its economic advancement and political reform, an attainment that has attracted worldwide attention. As a consequence, peoples call for better social welfare and the establishment of a welfare state has been on the increase. Accordingly, to implement welfare policies and streamline related institutions have been a priority on the government agenda. However, we will be facing the challenge of the change in family structure and an aging population, and the varying needs of quality welfare services for children, teenagers, the elderly, and the disabled. Given that, it requires much research about how to construct a well-designed welfare system through appropriate allocation of government resources. We therefore have to learn from foreign experience in building our own welfare institutions and pursuing a more balanced development between economy and welfare. In the meantime, the roles of the state, family, and society should be adjusted also for creating a welfare system that satisfies our needs.
This conference is convened at a time when the ROC is moving toward a modern welfare state. I firmly believe that, in view of your professional knowledge and remarkable research results on the relationship between the state, family, and social welfare, and other related issues, this conference will greatly contribute to our country in mapping out its social welfare institutions.
In closing, I wish this conference a great success and each of you good health and happiness.