From 10 to 12 December 2019，guided by Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and Shaanxi Provincial People’s Government, hosted by Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and Xi’an Municipal People’s Government, the closing ceremony of the 2019 Culture City of East Asia Xi’an Activity Year and related activities were held in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province.

Mr. Li Mingyuan, Mayor of Xi’an, Mr. Zhang Xilong, Deputy Director General of Bureau of International Exchanges and Cooperation, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, Mr. Chen Mengyu, Director General of Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Yu Ting, Vice Mayor of Yangzhou, 2020 Culture City of East Asia, Mr. Takano Yukio, Mayor of Toshima Ward in Tokyo, Japan, Mr. Park Junha, Vice Mayor of Incheon City of the ROK, Mr. Nagafuchi Kenji, Director of Social and Cultural Affairs, Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS), delegates from the Culture Cities of East Asia, participants of the 13th 10+3 Workshop on Cooperation for Cultural Human Resource Development from ASEAN Plus Three countries, as well as nearly 1000 representatives from different sectors in Shaanxi attended the ceremony. At the invitation of Xi’an Municipal People’s Government, Ms. Kong Roatlomang, Director of Education, Culture and Tourism Division of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) attended the closing ceremony and related activities.

During the occasions, Ms. Kong Roatlomang joined the above-mentioned guests in enjoying the colorful joint performance presented by artists from China, Japan and the ROK, and exchanged views with other participants on integrated development of culture and tourism, ASEAN-China relations and 10+3 cooperation. During the closing ceremony, Xi’an sighed cooperation documents on culture and tourism with Toshima and Incheon, and held Working Conference of Culture City of East Asia.

Since the year of 2010, the hosting cities of the biennial meeting of ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts were designated as the ASEAN City of Culture. China, Japan and the ROK launched the program of Culture City of East Asia since 2013. For the year 2019, Xi’an of China, Toshima of Japan and Incheon of the ROK were awarded the Culture Cities of East Asia and celebrations were held in these cities for the whole year. The launching ceremony of the Network of ASEAN Plus Three Culture Cities based on the Culture City of East Asia and the ASEAN City of Culture was held in October 2019 in Yangzhou.