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The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, started his visit in Beijing today (April 15).
Mr Tsang met and exchanged views with the Vice Minister of Culture, Ms Zhao Shaohua, on cultural co-operation and development this afternoon. He said that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government had signed agreements on cultural exchange and co-operation with the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China and a number of Mainland provinces and cities. These agreements serve to provide a platform for dialogue for the arts and cultural sectors, further promoting exchange and co-operation in the areas of cultural management and nurturing of talents, as well as organisation of large-scale cultural events.
"Frequent exchanges in the arts and culture between Hong Kong and the Mainland have not only opened up more development opportunities for the arts and cultural practitioners, but also fostered cultural integration as well as encouraged us to jointly promote and preserve Chinese culture and to introduce it to other parts of the world. I hope that we will roll out more cultural co-operation projects in the future," Mr Tsang said.
Mr Tsang also expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Culture for their support to Hong Kong to carry out cultural exchange and co-operation in the international arena, in particular in the Asia region.
In the morning, Mr Tsang paid a visit to the National Library of China (NLC). During the visit, he was briefed by the Director, Mr Zhou Heping, on the library collections, facilities and services. Mr Tsang learned that the NLC not only serves as the repository of the nation's publications and the national bibliographic centre, but is also the centre for the preservation and conservation of ancient books. It also co-ordinates document preservation and conservation work on a national level.
Earlier this month, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the NLC signed a "Co-operation Agreement on the Development of a Digital Library in the Hong Kong Public Libraries", further strengthening the cultural exchange and collaboration on digital library development.
Under the agreement, the NLC will provide various digitised resources to the Multimedia Information System of the Hong Kong Public Library (HKPL), enabling Hong Kong people to read about the rare ancient books through the HKPL webpage and appreciate the profundity of Chinese culture.
Mr Tsang also visited the State General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television to have a better understanding of its work.
Ends/Monday, April 15, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:35
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