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The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing; the Director General of the Department of Culture of Guangdong Province, Mr Fang Jianhong; and the President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), Mr Ung Vai-meng, attended the 14th Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Co-operation Meeting in Macao today (May 9).
About 100 delegates including officials and representatives of the relevant authorities of the arts and cultural sector from the three places joined the meeting and related activities. Representatives from the Office of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of the Ministry of Culture also attended the meeting.
In his concluding remarks, Mr Tsang said that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government had placed more emphasis on the homeland relationship - the exchange and co-operation with various parts of the Motherland - since it took office in July last year. The Government also attaches great importance to the development of arts and culture.
"We deeply feel that Hong Kong has a unique mission in passing on and promoting the Chinese culture. We also firmly believe that the development of Hong Kong's own culture must hinge on the cultural exchange with the Mainland and other parts of the world," he said.
Mr Tsang said he was glad that since the Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Co-operation Meeting held in Hong Kong last year, the three places had made laudable progress in several areas which included co-operation on strategy to promote superb projects, strengthening the connectivity of public cultural service systems and developing vibrant communication and exchange.
"It is encouraging that the meeting has also set targets for further development in these areas," he added.
In the meeting this morning, the three places signed a tripartite memorandum of intention on exhibition of cultural relics on Lingnan archaeological achievements over three decades in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. They agreed that the exhibition to showcase these important achievements will be held in the Guangdong Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of History and the Macao Museum from 2013 to 2014.
In addition, the three places discussed and agreed to sign a memorandum of intention on the assessment mechanism for the network of cultural co-operation points during the meeting.
Moreover, the three places also gained progress on co-operation in various areas. On performing arts, two large-scale performances were successfully staged after the meeting last year. One of them was the epic dance spectacle "Qingming Riverside", a collaborative performance backboned by the Hong Kong Dance Company with the participation of dancers from the Guangdong Song and Dance Ensemble. The dance tour in America and Canada in January this year commanded loud applause from both local and overseas audiences.
Another collaborative highlight was the modern dance and theatre production "Love Letters", jointly organised, created and performed by the three places. The show was separately staged in February and May this year in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao.
The three places agreed that they will continue to research the way forward to foster more tours of outstanding art works in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao for promotion of fabulous and creative pieces to the local public, bringing benefits as well to the exchange of talents and experiences among these places.
Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao will also further enrich the content of the Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Information Net. Consideration will be given to establishing a cultural co-operation Internet service platform, and to explore the feasibility of developing a mobile phone network portal of the Information Net. It will enable the Information Net to continue to serve as an important platform among the three places in promoting cultural information.
In the coming year, the three places will continue to strengthen exchanges and co-operation on public libraries and intangible cultural heritage. With regard to cultural and creative industries, the three places have also put forward a number of collaborative items to enhance co-operation for further development of the industries.
Since November 2002, the Department of Culture of Guangdong Province, the Home Affairs Bureau of the HKSAR and the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR have established a framework for strengthening cultural co-operation within the Greater River Pearl Delta region. An agreement on cultural co-operation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao was signed in August 2003. Meetings have been held in the three places from time to time, and six working groups have been set up to implement and follow up on the recommendations for co-operation in different areas.
Six working group sessions were held yesterday afternoon (May 8) to discuss specific topics, namely exchanges for performing artists and co-organisation of cultural programmes, mutual exchange of cultural information, co-operation in museum services, co-operation and exchange in public libraries, intangible cultural heritage, and research into the development of cultural and creative industries.
Ends/Thursday, May 9, 2013
Issued at HKT 18:54
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