As a part of the ongoing Shandong-Hong Kong Trade and Investment Promotion Week, the province launched a cultural industry promotion drive on Wednesday, with deals inked for 15 projects involving an investment of $1.8 billion.

There is a very large room for cooperation between the two sides in cultural and creative sectors, said Sun Shougang, director of Shandong’s publicity department, addressing an audience of more than 300 people, including government officials and representatives of the culture and business community at a business promotion forum.

"Culture is always an inexhaustible driving force for the development of a city. The development of the sector should be placed in a very prominent position," said Sun.

"With abundant creative talents and advanced management mode, Hong Kong has rich experience in developing the cultural and creative sectors. We will continue to learn from them and seek more cultural exchanges and cooperation," he added.

Deals inked at the event covered sectors ranging from publishing, animation, video production and advertising, to entertainment, cultural tourism as well as creative industry.

A cultural and creative industrial park project alone secured a total of $950 million from the Hong Kongbased Rong Hui Group. Located in Jinan, capital of Shandong, and covering an area of 600 hectares, the park will feature a 4-D museum, gallery, culture shopping mall, creative industrial base and culture-themed hotels.

"Shandong has rich cultural resources and a sound business environment. We are confident for our investment," said Wong Cho Shi, president of Rong Hui Group.

"The project will be a prefect combination of Chinese traditional culture and modern technology. We hope it will be a new landmark of Shandong's cultural industry," Wong added.

The promotion event also offered investors more than 150 other projects for potential cooperation, which could see total investment of 100 billion yuan ($15.7 billion). They include a film studio, an artist village, a notional dinosaur park and an animation production center.

Shandong is one of the important cradles of Chinese civilization and the home of ancient Chinese philosophers Confucius and Mencius, which gives the province a solid foundation to boost its cultural industry.

According to Shandong cultural industry development office, the province has put more than 100 billion yuan annually into the cultural industry over the past five years. As a result, the added value of Shandong's cultural industry has experienced sustained growth, hitting 230 billion yuan in 2011 and accounting for 5.1 percent of its GDP.

"With rich culture, Shandong is certainly capable of increasing its cultural industry. The next few years will see substantial progress in the industry," said Sun, adding that the culture industry is expected to see its output double by 2015 from current levels to 500 billion yuan.

By 2020, the cultural industry will become the province’s major pillar industry and new economic growth engine, and Shandong will turn itself into one of the nation’s major culture centers, the publicity director said.

To achieve the goal, the provincial government has implemented preferential policies for related enterprises and investors in the areas of taxation, land use, and financial support.

In addition, some new exchange platforms have been built. For example, the 10th China Art Festival, the nation's highest-level art gala, is scheduled to be held in the province in October 2013.

"We hope more investors from Hong Kong can join and benefit from the development of our cultural industry, especially in such emerging sectors as digital publishing, online games and mobile multimedia service," Sun said.

By Wang Qian and Ju Chuanjiang (China Daily)

Contact the writers at wangqian@chinadaily.com.cn and juchuanjiang@chinadaily. com.cn