The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah; the Director General of the Department of Culture of Guangdong Province, Mr Wang Yiyang; and the President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), Ms Mok Ian-ian, attended the 19th Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Co-operation Meeting in Hong Kong today (June 14). About 100 delegates including officials and representatives of relevant arts and cultural authorities and organisations from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao also joined the meeting.
In his concluding remarks, Mr Lau said that the Hong Kong SAR Government will continue to support local arts groups to perform in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area, and has reserved $140 million to support Hong Kong arts groups and artists in making cultural exchanges in the Bay Area over the coming five years. The cultural co-operation among the three places will become more vibrant in the future, he said.
The three places have made progress in various areas of co-operation. In the performing arts, various performers of unconventional Cantonese music, "crossover" music and jazz will begin to tour around the Bay Area from autumn 2018. As for museums, the three places will continue to support International Museum Day and the Muse Fest HK, and will organise student exchange activities such as the Youth Internship Programme at the Palace Museum. Regarding professional training, the three places will continue to organise the Greater Pearl River Delta Conservation Training Workshop this year to enhance professional conservation skills. In the coming year, the three places will also continue to strengthen co-operation in the areas of public libraries, intangible cultural heritage, and cultural and creative industries for the further development of relevant services and the cultural sector.
The Department of Culture of Guangdong Province, the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR and the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR have established a cultural framework within the Greater Pearl River Delta region. An agreement on cultural co-operation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao was signed in August 2003 and five working groups have been set up to implement and follow up on the recommendations for co-operation in different areas.
The five working groups met yesterday afternoon (June 13) to discuss specific topics, namely exchanges for performing artists and co-organisation of cultural programmes, co-operation in public libraries and cultural information, co-operation in museum services, intangible cultural heritage, and co-operation in cultural and creative industries.
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