China will invite artists, art groups and scholars from 45 Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) members to an arts festival in Beijing from Sept. 2 to 8, the Ministry of Culture announced Tuesday.

The festival would include a book and audio-visual fair, film week, stamp and paper currency exhibition, an art collection exhibition of ASEM member embassies to China and a forum on cultural development and cooperation, said Yu Xingyi, deputy director of the ministry's external exchange department at a press conference here.

At the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing last October, members agreed to the festival proposed by China.

The book and audio-visual fair would be the biggest event at the festival, Yu said.

More than 50,000 sorts of books, audio and video products from about 350 Chinese and foreign publishing houses, covering topics including literature, art, history and education, will be on display.

The festival is jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the General Administration of Press and Publications and Beijing Municipal government.

The festival would greatly enhance exchanges and cooperation between Asia and the European Union, said Huang Yiyang, an official from the Foreign Ministry.

The ASEM provides a vital forum for dialogue between Asia and Europe, which accounts for 58 percent of the world's population, around 50 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and 60 percent of world trade. The first meeting was held in 1996 in Thai capital Bangkok.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2009)