SHENZHEN will join hands with Hong Kong to establish a world-class creative center.

The center is an urgent requirement for Shenzhen, which needs to boost its cultural industry as it strives to catch up with major world cities, Wang Jingsheng, chief of the publicity department of the municipal committee of the CPC, said yesterday.

To achieve the aim, the two governments are expected to continue and improve the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, a feast of architecture, according to Wang.

The two cities will also explore to set up a theater ticket information exchange system, and make it possible to borrow books from public libraries in one city and return them in the other.

They will increase cooperation in the creative industry, especially in fashion design, cartoons and video games, and establish a regular communication system between the two sides.

Shenzhen should learn from Hong Kong's exhibition sector to make its annual cultural industry fair a top-notch one, said Wang.

The Shenzhen government will increase input in the cultural sector to encourage the city's creative industry, including building a group of industrial bases for cultural products and fostering cultural brands with strong competitiveness, according to Wang.

Meanwhile, new cultural facilities, including the Shenzhen Museum New Hall and the Children's Library near the Citizens' Center, will be put into use this year.

The creative industry is a subset of the knowledge-intensive industry that is particularly reliant on creativity and talent. It is important because it can either be an economic force or as creative spur for other economic activities.

The notion of the creative industry has aroused global attention following an investigation by Britain in the late 1990s, underlining the contributory role of the creative industry to overall employment and sustained economic growth.

In Hong Kong, Asia's creative center, the creative industry has been a public policy focus in the past few years, encompassing 11 categories, namely, advertising, architecture, design, digital entertainment, film, IT services, music, performing arts, publishing, broadcasting and the trade in arts, antiques and crafts.

(Mu Zi)