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The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah; the Director General of the Department of Culture of Guangdong Province, Mr Fang Jianhong; and the President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR), Mr Ung Vai-meng, attended the 17th Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Co-operation Meeting held in Macau today (May 28).
About 100 delegates including officials and representatives of the relevant arts and cultural authorities and organisations in Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macau joined the meeting.
In his concluding remarks, Mr Lau said that cultural co-operation among the three places has made good progress under the principles of complementarity, sharing of resources, deliberation on an equal footing and gradual realisation. The three places may also play a crucial role in the Belt and Road Initiative.
Mr Lau added that Hong Kong has a wide platform for artistic creation and a diverse cultural atmosphere, and has had long-established cultural links with Belt and Road countries at different levels over the years. Under the cultural co-operation platform between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, the three places may leverage their advantages in strengthening the people-to-people bonds with Belt and Road countries through cultural and youth exchanges, and open up the Belt and Road market together through enhanced co-operation.
The three places have gained progress on co-operation in various areas. On performing arts, a concert entitled "Nanyin in Guangdong Music: Talents from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao" was successfully staged after the meeting last year in collaboration with the most renowned nanyin artists from the three places. The biennial "Showcase of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Cantonese Opera Masters" was also held and toured the three places in December 2015, winning wide acclaim. In addition, the heads from the three places also witnessed the signing of the "Letter of Intent on Youth Drama Festival Co-operation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao" and the "2016-17 Work Plan for the Pearl River Delta Dance Network 'Delta Moves'" among cultural organisations from the three places, which demonstrated the enhanced level of voluntary co-operation among community organisations from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.
On co-operation between museums, the three places are planning to organise an international conference on the Maritime Silk Road to foster research on the subject and prepare for future exhibitions on the Maritime Silk Road among the three places. In addition, the three places agreed to take turn in organising sharing sessions to explore means for sustainable development of intangible cultural heritage. The three places also plan to organise events in 2019 to celebrate the 10thanniversary of the inscription of Cantonese opera onto the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In the coming year, the three places will continue to strengthen exchanges and co-operation on public libraries,intangible cultural heritage and cultural and creative industries for further development of the sector.
The Department of Culture of Guangdong Province, the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR and the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macau SAR have established a cultural framework within the Greater Pearl River Delta region. An agreement on cultural co-operation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau was signed in August 2003 and six working groups have been set up to implement and follow up on the recommendations for co-operation in different areas.
The sessions of the six working groups were held yesterday afternoon (May 27) to discuss specific topics, namely exchanges for performing artists and co-organisation of cultural programmes, exchange of cultural information, co-operation in museum services, co-operation and exchange in public libraries, intangible cultural heritage, and co-operation of cultural and creative industries. Mr Lau also attended the above working group sessions.
Ends/Saturday, May 28, 2016
Issued at HKT 15:09
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