The Asia Cultural Cooperation Forum 2006 organized by the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong government will open on Nov. 8 in Hong Kong, announced the bureau on Monday.

At the five-day forum with the theme of "Asian Arts, Culture and Modernity", scholars, artists, entrepreneurs, cultural leaders and officials from around the world will discuss their experiences tackling the modernization process, as reflected in culture and the arts, while exploring the idea of an Asian concept of modernity.

The forum will feature a meeting of Chinese delegations and an Asian cultural ministers' meeting on the first two days. Following this, a series of 12 open forums will be held based around six thematic programs -- "Cultural Ecologies: Communicating Contemporary Art in the 21st Century", "Measuring Creativity, Happiness and Well Being", "Creative Education Summit", "Media Arts in the Contemporary Society", "Experiencing Architecture" and "Asian Arts, Culture and Modernity".

Cultural ministers or their representatives from Asian countries and regions, including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam, will join the forum as well as a large delegation of senior cultural officials from the Ministry of Culture and 15 provinces and municipals from the Chinese mainland.

The Asia Cultural Cooperation Forum was launched by the Home Affairs Bureau in 2003. It aims to foster and enhance partnership between governments, facilitate and promote private sector initiatives in cultural and creative industries, and enhance Hong Kong's profile as Asia's prime cultural and creative hub.

(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2006)