The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency are expanding a content talent-training project they have been pursuing in Indonesia into joint production. The two countries are pushing ahead with a documentary production based on Indonesia’s nature and cultural heritage.

The ministry and the agency said on Monday they ran the “HOI Invitation Training Programme” for 14 Indonesian government officials from Sept. 14 to 17. They also said they signed an agreement for co-producing documentaries between the Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) and Indonesia’s culture ministry.

The training is part of the official development assistance (ODA) project, “Indonesia Content Industry Professional Workforce Development,” which the ministry and the agency have been carrying out with Indonesia’s culture ministry since 2023.

The two institutions have boosted young people’s creative and production capabilities through the local content workforce training centre, “HOI.” This time, they connected cooperation focused on training to actual content production.

The co-production agreement was signed at EBS on Sept. 15. Based on the deal, EBS and Indonesia’s culture ministry plan to co-produce a documentary featuring Indonesia’s nature and cultural heritage. The project is due to end in 2027.

During the training period, the Indonesian delegation visited CJ ENM studios and EBS facilities to look at South Korea’s content production environment. The delegation also attended the International Broadcast Video Market (BCWW) held at Seoul’s COEX from Sept. 14 to 16 and networked with people in the content industry.

The ministry and the agency currently operate content workforce training centres in six regions in Indonesia: Jakarta, Makassar, Jambi, Sikka, Cirebon and Badung.

By last year, the centres had produced a total of 672 trainees, and this year they aim to train an additional 630 people. Going forward, they plan to expand outcomes by linking the programme so local talent who complete training can also take part in the co-production process.

Kim Hyun-joon (김현준), director general for international cultural policy at the ministry, said, “Indonesia’s rich cultural assets are a foundation on which new content and stories can be created.” He added, “I hope this training served as an opportunity for the two countries to find new possibilities for cooperation.”

Kwon Oh-tae (권오태), head of the content export division at the agency, said, “Cooperation between the two countries, which has continued with a focus on talent development, has expanded to the joint production stage.” He added, “We will continue to expand exchanges and cooperation between the two countries’ content industries.”