ASEAN+3 ministers agree to strengthen cultural, arts exchanges

Culture ministers of the ASEAN Plus Three countries, including 10 ASEAN member states and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, have agreed to strengthen multilateral cultural and arts exchanges despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Culture ministers of the ASEAN Plus Three countries, including 10 ASEAN member states and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, have agreed to strengthen multilateral cultural and arts exchanges despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The agreement was reached during the ninth biennial ASEAN Plus Three Culture Ministers' Meeting which took place virtually on October 22.

The biennial meeting was originally scheduled to take place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, early this year but has been eventually held online due to the spread of COVID-19.

All 13 culture ministers shared the view that international exchanges and cooperation should be sustained in the cultural and arts sectors regardless of the coronavirus outbreak.

The fourth ASEAN-RoK Culture Ministers' Meeting was also held online on the sidelines of the event.

At the ASEAN-RoK meeting, RoK Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo proposed establishing bilateral cooperation organisations on visual arts and cultural heritage between the two sides. In response, ASEAN agreed to hold follow-up discussions on the creation of the two new cooperation bodies./.

VNA