Secretary for Home & Youth Affairs Alice Mak was in Beijing today to explore ways of enhancing mutual development, exchanges and collaboration between the youth of the capital and Hong Kong.

After meeting Hong Kong youths participating in finance-themed internship programmes, Miss Mak went to the Palace Museum to officiate at the inauguration ceremony of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Youth Internship Programme, visited workplaces of the interns and met Palace Museum Director Wang Xudong.

She said the Youth Internship Programme at the Palace Museum was restarted after three years of the pandemic, allowing Hong Kong young people to experience internships in the museum to strengthen their understanding of cultural relic restoration, exhibition planning and ancient building repair.

Miss Mak encouraged the interns to continue contributing to the future development of the country's cultural and museum industry, and to promote Hong Kong's development into a centre for international cultural exchange under the National 14th Five-Year Plan.

The youth affairs chief then met the person-in-charge of the All-China Youth Federation Wang Yi and the federation's secretary-general Liu Aiping to discuss helping Hong Kong youths integrate into the country's overall development and further encouraging youth exchanges between the Mainland and Hong Kong.

Miss Mak thanked the federation for its strong support for the youth development work of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, which enables Hong Kong youths to enhance their understanding of the motherland and sense of identity through personal experience.

She also encouraged young people on the Mainland to go on exchange to Hong Kong to learn more about the city's culture and social situation and promote mutual understanding of the youth of both places.

Miss Mak met Hong Kong youths and student groups upon arrival in the capital yesterday, to learn about their studies, work and life on the Mainland.