Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) and Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday to strengthen cooperation between the two broadcasters and promote the people-to-people links outlined in the Belt and Road Initiative.

The signing ceremony was held at the headquarters of RRI, with Eddie Cheung, Director of Broadcasting of RTHK, and Dr Hendrasmo, President Director of RRI, signing the MoU.

Indonesia is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and one of the Belt and Road countries. It is also the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. There are more than 140,000 Indonesians in Hong Kong, making them the city's second largest ethnic minority.

Under the MoU, RTHK and RRI will jointly produce a brand new programme "Hello Jakarta! Hello Hong Kong!" for broadcast in Indonesia and Hong Kong.

At the MoU signing ceremony in Jakarta, RTHK's Director of Broadcasting, Eddie Cheung, expressed the hope that the cooperation between the two broadcasters would promote exchanges and understanding between the people of both places.

“We hope that the new co-production ‘Hello Jakarta! Hello Hong Kong!’ will not only deepen the mutual understanding of the peoples of the two places, but also publicise to people in Indonesia in their language mega events to be held in Hong Kong such as Art Basel in March and Rugby Sevens in April,” he said.

For RTHK, the programme will be broadcast during a newly created Indonesian language time slot starting in March.

The programme will cover the latest news between Hong Kong and Indonesia and include interaction segments with listeners to strengthen ties between Indonesians in the two places and promote people-to-people links.

The two stations also agree to cooperate in news gathering and deepen the exchange of talents and technologies.

The RTHK delegation also visited Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI) and showcased some of RTHK's recent TV productions, including "Voyage with Ambassadors", "Master in the House", "Treasures of Hong Kong", "Mega Events Mega Hong Kong", "Vibrant Hong Kong", "SFC in Action", "HK-Business Made Easy".

While in Jakarta, Cheung also hosted a dinner reception for 16 young scholars, entrepreneurs and business leaders to update them on the latest developments in Hong Kong. They also explored ideas for cooperation in producing high-quality multimedia programmes to deepen mutual understanding between the two places.