H.E. Ong Keng Yong
at the
Banquet Dinner for the Eight Asian Arts Festival
Beijing, 30 August 2006

Excellency,

• Thank you for inviting ASEAN delegations and myself to Beijing for this cultural exchange.
• Relations between ASEAN and China have been progressing very well and now cover many different sectors of cooperation.
• ASEAN and China will commemorate the 15th anniversary of their relationship later this year when we convene the ASEAN-China Commemorative Summit in Nanning in October 2006. Our respective Leaders will be at the Summit.
• ASEAN and China have signed many cooperative agreements and MOUs. One of these is the Memorandum of Understanding on Cultural Cooperation signed in August 2005.
  We are now seeing the practical operation of this MOU with the gathering of all ASEAN Member Countries and China for this festival of arts and culture.
• Through arts and culture, ASEAN and China can promote substantial and substantive people-to-people contacts and linkages. We will have better understanding of our respective societies and ways of life. This will enable us to have a firm foundation for strengthening ASEAN-China ties in the economic, political, security and social fields.
• Therefore, what we all do here in this festival of arts and culture is not just promoting the national art forms and cultural heritage. It is important to appreciate that cultural artistes are also ambassadors of goodwill and friendship.

I hope all of us will be enriched by this experience in Beijing and contribute to stronger relations between ASEAN and China.

• In conclusion, I must say that we should enjoy ourselves. It is always a fascinating time for cultural artistes to come together and exchange notes, share what they are doing, and network for the future.
• On behalf of all my ASEAN colleagues and friends, I thank once again, Your Excellency, Mr. Sun Jiazheng and your team from the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China for your warm and generous hospitality.