India, China sign Cultural Exchange Programme

New Delhi, Jun 20: In an affirmation of their deepening cultural ties, India and China today signed a two-year Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP), envisaging the entire gamut of cultural issues, including exchange of official and media delegations and holding of cultural festivals.

The Cultural Exchange Programme, 2007-09 was initialled by Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni and her Chinese counterpart Sun Jiazheng here.

Among the features of the CEP are exchange of a five-member government or official delegation for a period of up to seven days and holding of cultural festivals, exhibitions and performances in respective countries.

Further, both the countries will exchange one delegation of ten writers for ten days and of two-three archivists for a week.

It was agreed that the China Dunhuang Research Institutions and the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) would forge a long-term academic collaboration.

India and China also agreed to encourage the Chinese Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Sangeet Natak Akademi and the Lalit Kala Akademi to exchange musicians, dancers and critics for attachment of up to three months at appropriate institutions for lectures and workshops.

Another salient feature of the CEP was that both sides would encourage their respective TV organisations to exchange radio and television programmes reflecting cultural richness of the two countries.

A media delegation of up to eight members from the two countries will be exchanged for two weeks while a delegation of anthropologists will study the status of bio-cultural research in the respective countries.

Expressing satisfaction over the signing of the CEP, Mr Sun said China and India had enjoyed good cultural relations in recent years.

''Today's signing of the CEP heralds a new era of closer cultural relation between China and India. It encompasses not only a fragment but the entire gamut of important aspects of our bilateral relations,'' he said.

Mr Sun said Ms Soni had visited China in December last year to discuss the nitty-gritty of the CEP. ''Through art and culture, we can connect the hearts and minds of the people of the two countries and even take it to a greater height.'' Ms Soni said India had so far signed Cultural Exchange Programmes with 122 groups. ''Today's CEP with China will further deepen cultural bonds between the two countries,'' she commented.

During Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to India in November last year, the two countries had agreed to organise a ''Festival of India'' in China and a ''Festival of China'' in India with a joint logo.

Under the 2003-05 CEP, the restoration project of Xuan Xandg Memorial Hall at Nalanda (Bihar) was taken up by the Indian government.

UNI