Chinese Cultural Minister Luo Shugang said Thursday in Ottawa that the first meeting of the China-Canada Joint Committee on Culture will open new channels for institutionalized, systematic and in-depth cultural exchanges between China and Canada. He also noted it will help build a new platform for the two countries' cultural cooperation and bring new vitality to the cultural ties.

Luo made the remarks at a reception hosted by Canadian Heritage Minister Melanie Joly to welcome him and a delegation of senior Chinese officials from major cultural institutions and business representatives from China's cultural industry.

"China attaches great importance to the inaugural meeting of the China-Canada Joint Committee on Culture and the government has sent [here] the largest delegation of cultural officials, cultural institutions and enterprises in recent years," said Luo.

He also said he believes the upcoming meeting will "become a new milestone in the history of Sino-Canadian cultural exchanges and lay a more solid humanistic foundation for the two countries' cooperation in various fields."

In her remarks, Joly praised the achievements China has made in its cultural sector and spoke highly of the fruitful cultural exchanges between the two countries over the past years. She also said she was looking forward to the first meeting of the joint committee.