The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mrs Rita Lau, today (June 28) called for more collaboration between Hong Kong and London in the development of creative industry upon completion of her three-day visit to London, the United Kingdom.
Noting that London is renowned as the global centre for creativity, Mrs Lau said she gained first hand knowledge of UK's latest creative industry landscape and had very fruitful exchange with leaders of the UK creative industries in these few days.
At a roundtable meeting chaired by the UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Lord Davies, she met with top designers and key representatives of UK creative sectors. She introduced to them Hong Kong's solid foundation and aspiration in the development of creative industries, and the participants were interested to learn that Hong Kong had drawn reference of the UK model in setting up a dedicated agency, CreateHK, to support Hong Kong's creative industries.
Mrs Lau visited the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design at the University of the Arts London, which is Europe's largest centre for education in its field offering a wide range of undergraduate, postgraduate and research opportunities in the arts, design and performance. Noting that nurturing of talent was high on the HKSARG's agenda of promoting creative industries development, Mrs Lau encouraged UK creative industries institutions to establish bases in Hong Kong.
Mrs Lau also visited Channel 4, a public service TV broadcaster with a distinctive creative remit funded solely from commercial revenue. She was interested to learn about Channel 4's activities in promoting public art through the Big Art initiative, as well as its various initiatives in creative industries talent development.
She also took the opportunity to visit a number of major establishments in the cultural, art and creative field. Before leaving London for Hong Kong today, Mrs Lau will officiate at the London Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, a colourful and fun-filled sporting event in London Docklands supported by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London to promote Hong Kong culture.
Sunday, June 28, 2009