The Home Affairs Bureau and Metro Plus AM1044 will jointly launch radio shows Hong Kong-Pak Tonight in Urdu and Harmo Sagarmatha in Nepalese on November 20.

Thirteen episodes of Hong Kong-Pak Tonight will air every Saturday from 8pm to 8.30pm, while Harmo Sagarmatha will air for 13 consecutive Mondays at the same timeslot.

The programmes are mainly entertainment-oriented with music an important element. News, sports, local customs and lifestyles in Hong Kong are also covered while local personalities from the respective ethnic communities are invited to talk about their cultural heritage and social inclusion.

The bureau said the programmes are among the government initiatives to enhance ethnic minorities' sense of belonging to Hong Kong, while retaining their own cultural identities and promoting multi-culturalism.

Multi-cultural

'Harmo Sagarmatha' literally means 'our Mount Everest' in Nepali. Mount Everest is equally divided between Nepal and China and the border between the two countries runs across Mount Everest right through the summit. Taking this as an analogy, many Nepalese in Hong Kong regard themselves as belonging equally to the local Chinese and Nepalese cultures.

Two experienced presenters, Abid Ali Baig and Pushpa Kumar Rai will host the respective shows. Mr Baig has 30 years of broadcasting experience in Pakistan and is both a poet and a writer, while Mr Rai was with the former British Forces Broadcasting Service for nearly two decades and his voice is familiar to many local Nepalese.

For more information, call the bureau's Race Relations Unit on 2835 1579 during office hours.