Following is the speech by the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, at the Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum+ 2025 - Ministerial Panel today (April 22):
 
Honourable ministers, heads of delegations, Consul Generals, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
 
     Good afternoon. Just now I was so eager to welcome you that I almost jumped on stage myself. On behalf of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), I would like to extend our warmest welcome to all of you to the Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum+ (ACCF+) 2025. May I take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to Mr Gao Zheng, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China, who will be delivering a speech for us in a short moment. 
      
     This year's ACCF+ has received an unprecedented participation of senior delegations from 17 countries in the region, with five of the countries sending delegations to join this Forum for the first time. Your active participation and unwavering support not only sustains the continued success of this Forum, but also reaffirms Hong Kong's unique position as an international hub for arts and culture, as well as the "super connector" for bridging countries across Asia and beyond, for meaningful cultural exchanges.
      
     The theme of this year's Forum is "Connect, Create, Engage: Bridging Cultures for All". I trust you would agree with me that this is something that we, as cultural ministers and government leaders, need to seriously contemplate at this point in time. The world has undergone rapid and vigourous changes since the last ACCF held in 2022, and these changes are multifaceted, especially when we are now entering a volatile age of geopolitical tension and tariff wars. What impacts the arts and cultural development of a place most is undoubtedly the amplified diversity through technology. We should all recognise that technological advancement is something inevitable, so instead of resisting it, we should adopt a people-oriented approach to embrace it. And to achieve this, my strategy is to connect more with people, to create more for people and to engage more people. After all, culture is from people, and is about people.
      
     Situated right in the heart of Asia, with a convergence of diverse cultures and global connections, Hong Kong is blessed with unique advantages to play the important role as a "super connector" between China, our motherland, and the rest of the world.  With the clear support in China's National 14th Five‑Year Plan, we have been striving to develop Hong Kong into an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchanges. Together with the competitive edge in the commercial sector, Hong Kong is also the largest art trading centre in Asia. All these have been written on the name card of Hong Kong now. We will surely work hard to make our name card more shiny and promote our strengths, but more importantly, we will make good use of these attributes to build connections with our friends in the region and the rest of the world. This is why Hong Kong is taking a leadership role in hosting this renowned event once again, and presenting various large-scale forums and summits, such as the Museum Summit organised last month by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department in partnership with The Guimet ‑ National Museum of Asian Arts in France, which received a record-high total registration of over 7 000 participants. One-third of them were non-Hong Kong registrants, from 39 countries. These achievements boost not only our confidence in consolidating our role, but Hong Kong's attractiveness to draw in new arts and cultural ideas and collaboration opportunities. As a melting pot of Chinese and Western cultures, Hong Kong's potential could only be fully unleashed with the constant stimuli from the rest of the world.
      
     Good connections is a solid foundation. With it, we can create more for our people. For the sake of arts and cultural development in Hong Kong, my priorities now go to creating space, opportunities, and more importantly an ecosystem. The cultural landscape in Hong Kong is much broadened with the full operation of the world-class West Kowloon Cultural District and the state-of-the-art Kai Tak Sports Park which was opened last month. The recent Coldplay concert hosting over 200 000 audience members coming from all over the world is a strong testimony of Hong Kong's strong capability in staging world-class events. So, we will definitely work hard to make good use of the space with sufficient quality content. 
      
     Apart from attracting mega events and world-class artists to Hong Kong, we will also create opportunities for our home-grown artists and talent to shine. On this, we are taking bold steps to develop new initiatives that provide such a platform, an example of which is the inaugural Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo (HKPAX) launched in 2024 that brought together arts institutions and practitioners from around the world. The HKSAR Government has already committed to supporting the second edition of HKPAX in the 2025-26 Budget Speech. The Forum today will undoubtedly serve as another precious platform in connecting partners, fostering exchanges and co-operation, and engaging cultural communities with constructive and inspirational thoughts and initiatives.
      
     Currently, Hong Kong is home to a number of globally acclaimed galleries, auction houses and art fairs. Hong Kong's low tax rate and thriving art fairs have attracted art lovers from around the world to participate in Hong Kong's art trading events. These qualities have contributed to the emergence of Hong Kong's art trading and auction market, making Hong Kong one of the world's top three art trading centres. As you know, Art Basel Hong Kong has developed into a prominent international event for visual arts since its debut in Hong Kong in 2013.  
      
     The advancement in infrastructure and enrichment of platforms have worked together to create a more pluralistic cultural environment, allowing space and conditions for industry building and the integrated development of culture, sports and tourism. The achievements did not happen by accident. This is one of the four strategic directions in the Blueprint for Arts and Culture and Creative Industries Development that we promulgated in November 2024 to enhance the ecosystem for the arts, culture and creative industries. Along this direction, we will continue to improve infrastructure, promote cross-sectoral and cross-genre collaborations, nurture talent, and more importantly, to collaborate with all sectors of society for the better future of arts and cultural development. 
      
     Very soon, my dear friends, you will be sharing your constructive and inspirational experiences and opinions for fostering arts and cultural growth at this Ministerial Panel. I look forward to learning from the immense interflow of ideas and insightful discussions that will ensue. On behalf of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, I would like to once again express my heartfelt gratitude for your honourable presence at ACCF+ 2025. Your participation and contribution is deeply meaningful to us and to the enhancement of people-to-people bonding in the region. 
      
     Thank you very much.

Ends/Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Issued at HKT 16:45

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