The Home Affairs Bureau will host the 2009 Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum October 8 to 10. An opening ceremony will be held at the Heritage Discovery Centre in Kowloon Park.

Government officials, cultural leaders and creative entrepreneurs from the Mainland and eight Asian countries will gather to exchange views on the Cultural Asian theme.

Representatives from the Mainland, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam will join the panel discussion October 8 to deliver speeches on the topic of Living in Arts, Arts in Living. A closed-door meeting will be held to sum up their discussion and a statement on cultural co-operation arrangements will be released.

The Ministry of Culture and the cultural departments of Mainland provinces and municipalities will hold a closed-door meeting on cultural heritage and innovation in the afternoon.

The bureau and cultural organisations will co-host three thematic sessions of the open forum at the Academy for Performing Arts October 9 and 10. The themes are International Exchange & Promotion - A Performing Arts Perspective, Blending In with Arts and The Animated Asia: Future Development of the International Positioning of Asian Animation.

The bureau launched the forum in 2003 to foster cultural partnership amongst Asian governments to promote private sector initiatives in the cultural and creative industries, and enhance the profile of Hong Kong as Asia's cultural and creative hub. Click here for details.