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Speech at the Fifth Meeting of Culture Ministers of SCO Member States

chinadaily 2013-10-31

In every agreement reached at the SCO summit of the Council of Heads of State, there is an invariable content——to strengthen the practical cooperation among the member states and solidify the foundation of the organization. We feel rather delighted to witness the success achieved in the aforementioned cultural events which exhibited the concerted efforts of the ministries of culture of member states in the practical cooperation.

Ⅲ. Major cultural exchange activities in the SCO framework for this year and next year

1. On April 28 this year, the opening ceremony of the Fourth Art Festival of SCO member states was held in Tajikistan as the celebration of the summit. China sent acrobatic and folk music artists to the festival.

2. The Ministry of Culture of the PRC will take charge of the major cultural activities in the framework of the Olympic Games this August during the Beijing Olympic Games. A special concert, An Evening of SCO Culture, will be staged at Beijing’s National Grand Theatre on July 18 and 19. Well-known singers and musicians from SCO member states will fully exhibit their artistic talents and distinctive ethnic characteristics in the concert. We are now busy with the preparations for the concert. I believe that the Olympic Games is a gala for sports, a festival for culture and a get-together for friends. I would take this opportunity to convey my heartfelt thanks to the ministries of culture of each of the member states for their solid support. An Evening of SCO Culture will definitely be one of the highlights among all the cultural events dedicated to the celebration of the Beijing Olympic Games.

3. Mutual understanding is the foundation for Cultural Policy CHINA FORUM, AUTUMN 2013, Special Issue on China Culture 5 cooperation and friendship, so in order to enhance the friendly relationship and mutual understanding among the cultural departments of SCO member states, China plans to implement the program of Cultural Officials Visiting China among the member states. According to the plan, next year China will invite two cultural officials from each member state to visit China, share their valuable experience and discuss the direction of cooperation in the future.

4. China will invite SCO member states to Nanning International Folk Songs Festival held in Guangxi in September 2009 and the China International Piano Competition in Xiamen in Oct. 2010. Both of them are mature and influential art festivals. The host cities, Nanning and Xiamen, located in south China, are famous for their unique scenery and folk custom. I hope that the member states would send the best artists to participate in these events.

Ⅳ.Discuss and sign the charter of the 4th Art Festival of SCO member states

Owing to the active cooperation and efforts of the host country as well as the participating countries, each art festival is a great success, winning the appreciation from the heads of the states attending the summit and the rest of the audience. The charter drawn up by Tajikistan, the host country of this year, is basically in accordance with the routines set in the previous ones and China agrees to sign this charter. Together with other member states, China, on the basis of the charter, will give its support to Tajikistan in the organization of the event. We believe the art festival of this year will undoubtedly be a complete success.

Ⅴ. Regarding the time and the place for the next meeting of culture ministers

(The host country of the culture ministers’ meeting is decided on the basis of willingness instead of the alphabetic order of each member state. The first meeting was held in China in April, 2002; the second meeting in Kazakhstan in 2005; the third in Uzbekistan in 2006; the fourth in Tajikistan in 2007. This year, the fifth meeting is held in Kyrgyzstan. Russia is the only member state that hasn’t hosted the meeting yet. Then the time and the place of the next meeting will be decided by the specific conditions and each country’s willingness.)

Ⅵ . Regarding the signing of this year’s conference minutes, announcements, the Action Plan on implementation of the agreement among the governments of SCO member states on cooperation in the field of culture for 2009-2011,the Work Plan for the Expert Working Group in cultural cooperation for 2008-2009

We highly praise the work done by the SCO Expert Working Group in cultural cooperation. After studying it, we agree to sign the above-mentioned documents.

Ⅶ. At last, I’d like to put forward several suggestions on SCO cultural cooperation in the future:

1. Explore more possible fields for SCO cultural cooperation and further the cooperation in the industry of film, television, broadcast, publishing and sports.

2. Involve the SCO observer states in the cultural cooperation in the framework of the organization to extend the SCO’s influence and effect. We may invite the observer states to our regular art festivals and to the meetings of culture ministers. Cultural Policy 6 CHINA FORUM, AUTUMN 2013, Special Issue on China Culture

3. Vigorously support and promote unscheduled cultural exchanges and communications between non-governmental organizations. Hosted by the Academy of Traditional Chinese Painting in West Lake, Hangzhou, an SCO forum about the art of painting named Paintings of West Lake was a huge success which encouraged the friendship and artistic communications between the artists from SCO member states. We think there is still much work we can do in similar fields.

We firmly believe that this meeting will act as a stepping stone in further pushing the cultural communication and cooperation in the SCO framework. Let’s join our hands to make a new contribution to launching more cultural communications and cooperation between us and to deepening the mutual understanding and friendship between our peoples.

(Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyz Republic, 24 June 2008)

 (Translated by Yao Xin)

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