22nd Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Cooperation Meeting held today (with photos)
6.6.2024

The 22nd Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Cooperation Meeting (the Meeting), co-ordinated by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, was concluded in Hong Kong today (June 6). During the Meeting, working group meetings, a meeting of culture departments' leaders of the three places and a main conference were held. About 130 officials responsible for cultural affairs, and representatives of relevant associations from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, attended the Meeting to conclude the co-operation experiences in arts, culture and creative industries during the past year, and to discuss a number of collaboration initiatives in the coming year. The Meeting charted the progress to date, noting fruitful results in various areas of collaboration. The Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Kevin Yeung, expressed gratitude to the Director General of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province, Mr Li Bin, and the Director of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region, Ms Leong Wai-man, for attending the Meeting and giving speeches in person. This shows that the three places attach great importance to the promotion of cultural exchanges and collaboration in the region. He hopes that the high-level framework of the Meeting can provide guidance on cultural exchanges and collaboration among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and further enhance the breadth and depth of the co-operation. Mr Yeung said, "As an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange, we will continue to make use of our distinctive advantages under 'one country, two systems', enjoy the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world, and spare no effort in promoting cultural exchanges and collaboration among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, jointly developing a cultured bay area, while opening up international markets together at the same time. In the coming year, we will bring programmes of the Hong Kong Pop Culture Festival which have been implemented for two years to the Greater Bay Area (GBA) through various platforms." Mr Yeung said that the Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo (HKPAX) to be held this year will include visits to Guangzhou and Shenzhen. He said he looks forward to joining hands in leveraging the cultural resources in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to expand markets. On the collaboration of heritage and museums, Hong Kong will organise the 4th Museum Summit in March next year. Practitioners will be invited from Guangdong, Macao and abroad to join. Hong Kong will continue to engage in the cultural collaboration of the three places actively, with a view to fostering people-to-people exchanges and telling the good stories of China together. In his remarks at the main conference, Mr Li said, "In the past year, we had close exchanges and pragmatic co-operation with the culture departments of Hong Kong and Macao, which effectively facilitated the stable and progressive development of the culture and tourism sectors in the GBA. The culture departments in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao will continue to seize historic opportunities brought by the development of the GBA, and give full play to our own advantages, exploring co-operation opportunities in a wide array of areas." In her remarks at the main conference, Ms Leong said, "Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have yielded fruitful outcomes in areas such as performing arts, heritage and museums, intangible cultural heritage, public services as well as the culture industries. Through discussing and finalising new goals at the Meeting, we strive to contribute more to promoting Chinese culture, telling good stories of China, enhancing mutual learning, and benefiting people in the GBA." During the main conference today, representatives of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council introduced the key events of the 4th GBA Culture and Arts Festival and HKPAX to be held in October this year. The GBA Culture and Arts Festival is an annual important event jointly taken forward by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. This year, Hong Kong will be the host city for the first time. More than 100 programmes, including a number of programmes co-created by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, will be staged in the three places under the approach of being "Hong Kong-based, while synchronising with Guangdong and Macao". As for the first HKPAX, it will serve as a large-scale international platform for the performing arts industry. Besides exhibitions and business activities for the trade, HKPAX will also offer many world-class programmes for the public and tourists to enjoy. Programme tickets will go on sale in August this year. Details will be announced in due course. The delegations of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao attended working group meetings yesterday (June 5) afternoon. In the evening, they visited the "teamLab: Continuous" exhibition under "Art@Harbour 2024", organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, for a sensory experience of culture at the Victoria harbourfront, and joined the Tai Kwun Guided Tour to appreciate the collaboration between culture and conservation projects. They also enjoyed "King Lear", a non-verbal theatre production of gestures adapted and directed by Hong Kong artist Tang Shu-wing. The delegations will visit the Hong Kong Museum of Art, as well as the Hong Kong Palace Museum and M+ museum of the West Kowloon Cultural District after today's meeting to experience Hong Kong's rich and diverse cultures. The first Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Cooperation Meeting was held by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in 2002. An agreement on cultural co-operation was signed in August 2003 to establish a cultural co-operation framework for the region. In the Meeting this year, working groups had discussions on five 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, exchanges and co-operation on intangible cultural heritage, and co-operation in cultural and creative industries.