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Following is the full text of the speech by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, at the opening ceremony of the Clore Leadership Symposium today (October 13):
Ms Hoyle, Baroness Neuberger, Mr Lynch, Mr Hall, Professor Leung, distinguished speakers, ladies and gentlemen,
I am very pleased to see such a gathering of artistic talent here today to attend the opening of the Clore Leadership Symposium. I extend a warm welcome to all participants, especially to Ms Hoyle and all the Clore leaders, who have flown in to join us. We are also pleased to have with us cultural leaders from Guangdong, Shenzhen and Macau, adding a unique regional perspective to this Symposium.
The Clore Leadership Programme, set up in the United Kingdom, has been very successful in advocating the vital role of cultural leadership. I congratulate the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts for bringing the Clore experience here, through co-organising this Symposium. The Home Affairs Bureau is delighted to be supporting the building of this platform to enhance cultural exchange and knowledge transfer between the international experts in cultural management and our local arts administrators.
This Symposium comes at a particularly crucial moment for us, as we begin to embark on our $21.6 billion project to develop an integrated arts and cultural district in West Kowloon, which, when completed, will see the addition of 15 world class performing arts venues and a forward looking exhibition venue to the local cultural scene. This represents our commitment to promote long term development of arts and culture for our people, and supporting Hong Kong as a creative economy and Asia¡¦s world city. We are aware of the need to develop our cultural software in parallel with the building of the West Kowloon Cultural District. Hence we are set to learn from the Clore leaders on how best to develop a cultural ecology that can carry the vision of a regional cultural metropolis, from supporting artists and arts groups, to nurturing cultural management leaders, developing audiences, promoting arts education and conducting effective advocacy to garner corporate and public support.
Culture is not only a core part of our lives, it also defines our identity. Hong Kong is uniquely placed to have our deep rooted Chinese culture as the foundation and our particular historical context as the soil for cultural diversity. The West Kowloon Cultural District makes this an exciting time for us, and especially for the cultural leaders and cultural leaders to be.
I understand that some of the Clore leaders will be visiting Shanghai after Hong Kong. This is encouraging to us as we see our role also as a facilitator on cultural exchanges between this part of the world and elsewhere.
Finally, I wish the Symposium every success. Thank you.
Ends/Monday, October 13, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:21
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