Officials from China, Japan and South Korea pose for a group photo at the awarding ceremony of the Culture Cities of East Asia 2025 during the 15th China-Japan-South Korea Cultural Ministers' Meeting in Kyoto, Japan, Sept. 12, 2024. At the 15th China-Japan-South Korea Cultural Ministers' Meeting held here Thursday, China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Huzhou, South Korea's Anseong and Japan's Kamakura were awarded the Culture Cities of East Asia 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)
KYOTO, Japan, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- At the 15th China-Japan-South Korea Cultural Ministers' Meeting held here Thursday, China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Huzhou, South Korea's Anseong and Japan's Kamakura were awarded the Culture Cities of East Asia 2025.
Chinese Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Zhang Zheng, Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Masahito Moriyama and South Korean First Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yong Ho-seong attended the meeting.
They exchanged views on promoting cultural exchanges and cooperation among China, Japan, and South Korea, and jointly signed the 2024 Kyoto Declaration and a memorandum of cooperation on the year of cultural exchange in 2025-2026 for the three countries.
At the end of the meeting, the three ministers awarded plaques to the cities selected by the three countries as the Culture Cities of East Asia 2025. Bilateral culture ministerial meetings were held on the sidelines of the meeting, and a China-Japan-South Korea arts festival was also staged.
Ao Ieong U, secretary for social affairs and culture of the Macao SAR government, said at the award ceremony that Macao will continue to leverage its advantage as a city featuring the integration of Chinese and Western cultures and of extensive international exchanges.
By building itself into a Culture City of East Asia, Macao will further facilitate and deepen cultural and tourism exchange and collaboration among the three countries, thus contributing to the expansion of the cultural dialogue in Asia, she added.
Hong Hupeng, mayor of Huzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, said that Huzhou will take this designation as an opportunity to strive to organize a unique series of activities as a Culture City of East Asia, extensively participate in national-level foreign cultural and tourism exchanges, and make more contributions to promoting cultural exchanges and mutual learning in East Asia.
China-Japan-South Korea Cultural Ministers' Meeting, established in 2007, is an important intergovernmental consultation mechanism for the three Asian neighbors. The meeting is held on a rotating basis by the three countries and plays an indispensable role in enhancing cultural exchanges and promoting practical cooperation. ■
