The main objectives of the Commission on Youth are to advise on matters that are relevant to young people, initiate studies and research, promote cooperation and improvement in the provision of youth services and serve as a point of contact for exchange programmes with other international youth organisations. The Government has been working closely with the commission to achieve these objectives.

During the year, the commission organised the fifth Youth Summit to explore ways to encourage Hong Kong's young people to participate in sports, culture, arts, poverty relief and social policy. Youth delegates from Guangzhou and Macao were also invited to attend the summit. The proposals put forward at the summit were forwarded to the commission, the Government, and other concerned parties for consideration.

During the year, the commission continued to update the report Youth in Hong Kong — A Statistical Profile 2003, which provided broad data and useful references on six youth-related issues: poverty, substance abuse, unemployment, human capital, cultural capital and social capital.

The commission published the report on the first-ever benchmarking survey of civic engagement and social networks of young people in Hong Kong. This will serve as a base for future studies and surveys on this subject and help develop a set of useful indicators for evaluating youth services.

The commission continued to introduce youth development programmes that seek to realise the full potential of young people. These included the International Youth Exchange Programme aimed at broadening young people's horizons and international perspective. During the year, three groups comprising 49 youth delegates visited Singapore, Britain and Ireland under the programme. The commission also received 23 young people from Britain and Ireland making return visits to Hong Kong.

The commission continued to run the Community Participation Scheme for Organising Study Tours to the Mainland to enhance young people's awareness and understanding of their home country, foster exchange with Mainland people and strengthen their sense of national identity. In addition, the commission launched the Youth Development Funding Scheme in 2005 to sponsor non-governmental organisations that provide youth development activities. In 2005, the commission sponsored 156 study tours to the Mainland and 86 youth development projects.

The Charter for Youth enunciates principles and ideals in youth development. To encourage more youth organisations and individuals to subscribe to the charter, the commission continued to promote it by distributing leaflets.