Shenzhen aims to run the Shenzhen International Cultural Industry Fair (ICIF) into the Chinese Export Commodities Fair (CECF) for the country's cultural industry in the years to come.

The plan has support of the Ministry of Culture and Guangdong Provincial Government.

The ICIF is hosted by the Ministry of Culture, State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, State Administration of Press and Publication and Guangdong Provincial Government, and undertaken by the Shenzhen Municipal Government.

Two years ago, the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPC initiated a proposal to stage an international cultural fair and completed a general plan for the fair in October last year.

On Jan. 30 this year, the Ministry of Culture approved the city's application and the city government commenced full-scale preparatory work.

"However, since then, the ICIF's hosts have been raised twice from the municipal level to the provincial level and finally to the State level," Wang Yongzhang, chief of the industry section of the Ministry of Culture, said at a press conference in Wuzhou Guesthouse on Tuesday.

Inaugurated in the spring of 1957, the Chinese Export Commodities Fair attracted many overseas participants and buyers in Guangzhou.

"Compared with developed countries, the cultural industry in China is still lagging behind, so we cannot expect the ICIF will attract a lot of overseas participants and buyers this year," said Wang Jingsheng, chief of the publicity department of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPC.

"But with the further development of industry in the country and in the city, we believe we'll be surely able to run the industry fair into the CECF for the country's cultural industry in the future," Wang said.

With a successful ICIF, organizers expect the ICIF will provide a platform for exhibition, transaction and information exchange for the country's cultural industry.

Official statistics show that the cultural industry in Shenzhen totaled 13.50 billion yuan (US$1.63 billion) in 2003, up 19.65 percent from a year ago, accounting for 4.63 percent of the city's gross domestic product last year.

Some of the city's key cultural industries, such as media, tourism, entertainment, piano education, digital TV, animation, industrial design, publication and distribution, have taken the lead in the country. In the next few years, the city government will continue to focus on the development of these sectors.

Organized by the Ministry of Culture, the first State-level cultural industry working conference was held in Wuzhou Guesthouse on Tuesday, attracting more than 120 representatives from all over China.

 
Editor: Catherine