▲ South Korean Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Chae Hwi-young speaks during the opening ceremony of the three-day APEC 2025 High-level Dialogue on Cultural and Creative Industries held on Aug. 27, 2025, in Gyeongju, 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in this photo provided by the ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
▲ South Korean Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Chae Hwi-young (R) holds talks with his Japanese counterpart Toshiko Abe on the sidelines of the APEC 2025 High-level Dialogue on Cultural and Creative Industries on Aug. 27, 2025, in Gyeongju, 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in this photo provided by the ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

APEC culture ministers-meeting

APEC culture ministers share importance of cultural industries in 1st meeting

SEOUL, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) -- Culture ministers from 20 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) agreed Wednesday to recognize the growing role of cultural and creative industries and pledged to continue cooperation in the field, South Korea's culture ministry said.

The agreement came in a joint statement adopted at the end of the main session of the three-day APEC 2025 High-level Dialogue on Cultural and Creative Industries in Gyeongju, 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul. It was the first ministerial-level gathering on culture since the forum was founded in 1989.

The statement emphasized a shared recognition of the industries' economic value and called for greater promotion of innovation in creation and distribution through the use of digital and artificial intelligence technologies, the ministry said.

The meeting was chaired by South Korean Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Chae Hwi-young and attended by about 100 representatives from all APEC member economies except Mexico.

Before adopting the joint statement, participants held three separate sessions under the themes "Connect," "Innovate" and "Prosper" to discuss the future of the global cultural and creative industries.

"It's a significant achievement that, for the first time in APEC's history, the cultural sector was elevated to a core agenda item for economic cooperation, and that we were able to vividly showcase the infinite scalability of cultural content and the capabilities of South Korea's cultural industry to the attendees," Chae said in a release. "Based on this, we will continue our cooperation with APEC member economies through the cultural industry."

The dialogue runs through Thursday in Gyeongju.

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