Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) and Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Jakarta, Indonesia today (Feb 19) to strengthen co-operation between the two broadcasters and foster people-to-people bond outlined in the Belt and Road Initiative.
The signing ceremony was held at the headquarters of RRI. Mr. Eddie Cheung, the Director of Broadcasting, and Dr. Hendrasmo, the President Director of RRI, signed the MoU.
Indonesia is a member state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and one of the Belt and Road countries. It is also the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. There are more than 140,000 Indonesians in Hong Kong, making them the second largest minority ethnic group in the city.
Under the framework of the MoU, RTHK and RRI will jointly produce a brand new programme “Hello Jakarta! Hello Hong Kong!” for broadcast in Indonesia and Hong Kong. For RTHK, the programme will be aired during a newly established Indonesian language broadcast timeslot starting in March, with a view to serving the Indonesian community in Hong Kong. The programme will share the latest news between Hong Kong and Indonesia, and include listener interaction segments to strengthen connections between Indonesians in the two places to promote people-to-people bonds. In addition, the two stations will enhance co-operation in news gathering and deepen exchanges in talent and technologies.
At the MoU signing ceremony, the Director of Broadcasting said, “according to the International Monetary Fund, the GDP of Indonesia has exceeded US$ 1.5 trillion. She is the fourth most populous country in the world. We hope that the new co-production ‘Hello Jakarta! Hello Hong Kong!’ will not only deepen the mutual understanding of the peoples of the two places, but also publicise to people in Indonesia in their language mega events to be held in Hong Kong such as Art Basel in March and Rugby Sevens in April.”
The RTHK delegation also took the opportunity to visit Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI) to explore ways to strengthen co-operation. During the meeting, the Director of Broadcasting introduced RTHK's recent TV productions, including “Voyage with Ambassadors”, “Master in the House”, “Treasures of Hong Kong”, “Mega Events Mega Hong Kong”, “Vibrant Hong Kong”, “SFC in Action” (a co-production with the Securities & Futures Commission of Hong Kong), “HK-Business Made Easy”(a co-production with Invest Hong Kong), etc. These programmes highlight Hong Kong’s distinctive advantages as a cultural melting pot of East and West, and showcase the vibrant business environment and the robust financial regulatory and supervisory frameworks in Hong Kong.
During his stay in Jakarta, the Director of Broadcasting also hosted a dinner reception for 16 young scholars, entrepreneurs, and business executives to update them on Hong Kong's latest developments. They also explored ideas of collaboration to produce high quality multimedia programmes to deepen mutual understanding between the two places.
