Delivering a speech during the 10th China-Japan-South Korea Cultural Ministers’ Meeting in Harbin, the capital of the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng said Thursday that Macau is serving as an important place for people-to-people bonds and cultural exchanges between the three East Asian countries, according to a statement by Tam’s office yesterday.
The statement did not mention how many days the annual meeting, which had its opening ceremony on Wednesday, lasts this year.
In the meeting, the central government’s Minister of Culture and Tourism Luo Shugang, Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Yoshimasa Hayashi, and South Korea’s Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Do Jong-hwan delivered their keynote speeches on behalf of their countries, the statement said.
In addition to the keynote speeches by the three ministers, Tam and Hong Kong’s Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah also delivered a speech each, according to the statement.
In his speech, Tam noted that Macau has a history of nearly half a millennium of relations with Korea and Japan.
Tam pointed out that following the Historic Centre of Macau being inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005, Macau was designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy last year.
Tam noted that Macau organises a number of large-scale cultural events every year, adding that performing arts groups from Japan and South Korea frequently participate in these annual events in Macau.
Tam noted that South Korea and Japan are the first and second largest source of foreign visitors to Macau, adding that the two countries are also popular destinations for Macau residents to visit.
Tam added that the “bilateral flow” (Macau-Japan and Macau-South Korea) has turned Macau into an “important vehicle” for people-to-people bonds and cultural exchanges among China, Japan and South Korea.
