China, Japan and South Korea opened a new year of intercultural dialogue to enhance cultural cooperation at the 7th China-Japan-South Korea Ministerial Conference on Culture held in Qingdao City, Shandong province, on Dec 20.

Delegates to the conference were China's Minister of Culture Luo Shugang, South Korea's Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Jong-deok, and Japan's State Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hiroyuki Yoshiie.

The delegates reviewed the cultural exchanges among China, Japan and South Korea in recent years, and exchanged their views on further deepening pragmatic cultural cooperation.

China's Ningbo, South Korea's Jeju, and Japan's Nara were awarded with the title '2016 Culture City of East Asia' for their efforts in holding various cultural exchange activities. At the sixth session of the conference Qingdao was named a 2015 Culture City of East Asia.

An action plan was adopted at the conference. It blueprints key cultural cooperation programs to be developed by the three nations over the following three years.

The 7th China-Japan-South Korea Ministerial Conference on Culture held in Qingdao City, Shandong province, on Dec 20. [Photo by Lu Xu/China Culture Daily]

China's Minister of Culture Luo Shugang (middle), South Korea's Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Jong-deok (left) and Japan's State Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hiroyuki Yoshiie (right) hold the 2015-2017 Qingdao Action Plan. [Photo by Lu Xu/China Culture Daily]

The ministers with representatives of the three cities named as a 2016 'Culture City of East Asia'. [Photo by Lu Xu/China Culture Daily]