Cultural festival to display cooperation

A cultural festival designed to enhance multilateral communication under the BRICS framework will get underway later this month.

The BRICS Cultural Festival runs from Sept 15 to 22 in the coastal city of Xiamen, Fujian province. More than 200 artists from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will participate, according to Xie Jinying, director of the Ministry of Culture's Bureau for External Cultural Relations.  

More than 30 activities, including performances, exhibitions and film screenings, will convene in the city, Xie said at a news conference on Sunday in Xiamen. All the events will be open to the public for free.

"All activities are co-presented by the five countries," he said. "The countries have abundant cultural resources and have common wishes to expand cultural influence with joint efforts."

The official launch ceremony for the cultural festival, plus a BRICS photography exhibition, will be held on Monday. It will be attended by the five state leaders who came to Xiamen for the BRICS Summit.

"People-to-people understanding and friendship is an indispensable cornerstone, whether to deepen cooperation within BRICS or to win a wider partnership," President Xi Jinping said in his keynote speech in Xiamen on Sunday.

"We should bring the significant role of cultural communication into full play and create more events like the film festival, cultural festival and sports meeting."

He said these activities, which are beneficial for people's livelihoods, will help to spread BRICS stories and inject stimulus to BRICS cooperation by converging exchanges and friendship among the five countries.

Top-tier artists are invited for the upcoming cultural festival. For example, a ballet gala will be held on Sept 15, according to Xu Gang, a choreographer from the National Ballet of China and director of the gala.