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Chairman Lu's speech at the Opening Session of Development Cooperation Forum on International Industrial Parks & Discussion on Silk Road International Culture Week
12 Dec 2016

Development Cooperation Forum on International Industrial Parks 

Discussion on Silk Road International Culture Week

 

Chairman Lu's speech at the Opening Session

 

 

Mr. Chen Zhou, Vice President of CCPIT

Ms. Feng Yueju, Vice chairman of Shaanxi CPPCC, President of SFIC

Mr. Deng Li, Deputy Director of Shaanix Policy Consultation

Mr.Zhang Xiaoning, Deputy Secretary General of Shaanxi Government

Ms. Alexandra Ochirova, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador

Sergey Kalashnikov, Chairman of Russian Federation for International Cooperation

Mr. Wang Yajie, Party Secretary of Northwest University of China

Ladies, gentlemen and friends,

 

Good morning!

 

On behalf of SRCIC, as sponsor of this meeting, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and warm welcome to all our friends here, old and new.

 

Xi’an city was Chang’an during the Tang dynasty, the largest international metropolis in the world. It was the starting point of the ancient Silk Road. This  Tang West Market then served as the top booming international business centre in Chang’an city, thus the name Golden Market. The ancient Silk Road, all the way towards the west, reached as far as Byzantine Empire, East Roman Empire. And at the same time, Tang West Market was the centre for international cultural exchange and entertaining recreation. In the poem by Li Bai, a well known poet of the Tang dynasty,he pictured a happy time of “Walking over the fallen flower path, we laughed into the pub seeing a foreign waitress”. Today, we choose this special venue for our forum on international industrial parks and our discussion on Silk Road International Culture Week. We draw from the rich history and culture for our meetings on business and culture development. We feel very historical and meaningful.

 

Over the three years, China’s proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative has involved more than 100 countries and international organizations in participation, over 30 countries in cooperation agreement signing, and over 20 countries in productivity collaboration.

 

To promote more efficient involvement in the Belt and Road construction and better benefit sharing for global business communities, we established SRCIC last December in Hong Kong. Currently SRCIC has 58 state-level members, 5 professional committees of trade, finance, culture, transportation and energy, and two new ones in process, Industrial Park Committee and Information Committee. There are 7 sub-organizations of eSilkRoad, Silk Road International Development Fund, Silk Road Think Tank Association, Silk Road Trade Expo Park, Silk Road International Commodity Exchanges, Silk Road International Association of Museums and GrandBeauty International Cultural Art Trading Center as cooperation platforms, forming up a community of shared interests and shared responsibility for a shared future.

 

According to the statistics from China Ministry of Commerce, China has set up 118 industrial parks and business cooperation zones in 50 countries. They present the new collaboration modules for international industrial development, functioning as ties and engines in the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. We understand that the construction of the Belt and Road can be advanced by the cluster and demonstration effects of international industrial parks as well as the business mechanism and platforms for exchange and interaction.

 

The Industrial Park Committee we are establishing will facilitate the cooperation and development of international industrial parks, assist enterprises and institutions to get into the Park, and strengthen the communication and interaction in trade and finance, education and talents, technology incubating, tourism and cultural exchange. Today we will sign the agreements with Ukraine Chamber of Industry and Commerce and with Bolivia Chamber of Commerce on cooperation in Industrial Parks.

 

Ladies, gentlemen and friends,

 

On 5 December this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired the 30th meeting of Central Government Leading Group for Deepening Reforms. Passed at the meeting was Guiding Suggestions about Building up the Belt and Road Soft Strength, which states that Soft strength is an important booster of the construction of the Belt and Road. They are theory support, public opinion support and cultural conditions for the construction of the Belt and Road. This is the expectation and encouragement to us, and this is also the guidance and support to us.

 

Construction of the Belt and Road requires both “hard” support, economy and trade, and “soft” support, cultural exchange. International relations are based on peoples’ understanding. We put priority on people connectivity. At this meeting, there are three components:

 

  1. The discussion on Silk Road International Culture Week

We use cultural strength to promote international exchange and cooperation among peoples of the Belt and Road countries, creating good soft environment favourable for regional business collaboration.  Shaanxi province is one of the birthplaces of Chinese culture, rich in resources and history. The central government has positioned Shaanxi Free Trade Zone as an inland new height of reform and openness, supposed to explore new models of economic cooperation and cultural exchange with the Belt and Road countries. The cultural exchange is stressed for the first time here among all the free trade zones in China.

 

  1. The Forum on International Industrial Parks 

We will discuss how we can work out new models to realize international cooperation in productivity and in global value chain rearrangement by way of constructing international industrial parks.

 

  1. Demonstration and registration on www.eSilkRoad.com

We adopt the innovative notion of Internet + International chambers of commerce + the Silk Road to create online platforms of financing and investment, commercial trade, think tank consultation and cultural exchange, interacting online and offline effectively to promote business flows in information, trade, commodities and capital and serving our members on the eSilkRoad.

 

I believe you will give your ideas and suggestions freely about these topics here to make this Forum a good opportunity for thought exchanges, viewpoints interaction, and pragmatic collaboration. Let’s push forward our consensus reached at September summit to make those seven cooperation platforms function for all of us.

 

Once again, thank you for coming to this meeting in Xi’an!

 

I wish you all a good time here.

 

Thank you!