Policy Address

Expanding the Mainland Market

42.        The vast Mainland market is of prime importance to the development of our creative industries. We have opened up the Mainland market for them through CEPA. Take the film industry as an example. Since the implementation of CEPA, preferential treatment has been given to our local film industry in such areas as distribution of films (including both Hong Kong productions and Hong Kong-Mainland co-productions) and video products, cinema operation and post-production. At present, films jointly produced with the Mainland are treated as Mainland productions for the purpose of distribution in the Mainland. Because of this advantage, we have seen notable growth and breakthroughs in the output, scale and box office receipts of Hong Kong-Mainland co-productions in the past few years. Of the top 10 box office hits in the Mainland in 2008, six were Hong Kong-Mainland co-productions. The latest supplement to CEPA introduces further liberalisation measures for the creative industries, covering films, publishing and printing, and online game products. We will continue to support local industries to further develop the Mainland market through consultation with the relevant Mainland authorities under the CEPA framework.

Developing the Local Market

43.        To develop a local market for culture, we will work closely with the arts sector and our community to produce high quality arts programmes. We will promote arts in schools through the new senior secondary school curriculum. We will nurture artists and arts administrators by providing training and internship programmes. The West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) is a major project for promoting cultural development and our creative industries. Upon its completion, the WKCD will offer world-class facilities and quality programmes. We have started to draw up specific plans for the project and launched a public engagement exercise to gauge the views of various sectors on the development blueprint, facilities and programmes of the WKCD.

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