Feature: "Cultural diplomacy" brings China, Italy together on new Silk Road

A two-day event on cultural diplomacy and creative industries kicked off here at the Milan world exposition on Wednesday, gathering Chinese and Italian experts to discuss mutual understanding and common growth on a new Silk Road.

China and Italy have already enjoyed profound cultural exchange in history, but potential for further mutual understanding is still huge, said Li Zhaoxing, former Chinese Foreign Minister and president of the China Public Diplomacy Association, a non-profit organization comprising relevant institutions and personalities in the field of public diplomacy.

"Studying the cultures of other countries of the world is fundamental for China's development in peace," Li told Xinhua. He stressed that peace is the precondition for human growth and prosperity.

Without a peaceful and stable international environment, Li went on saying, development is out of the question for any country. Thus it is the fervent aspiration of China that all peoples live and develop in a secure and stable environment.

The China Public Diplomacy Association is dedicated to making the best of people-to-people channels in international exchanges, striving to advance the development of China's public diplomacy and enhance friendship with other countries of the world.

Ambassador of China to Italy Li Ruiyu highlighted the most recent example of fruitful bilateral exchange, the Expo Milano 2015, which since its opening on May 1 has hosted a series of important Chinese events, from the China National Day to the Beijing Week, Shanghai Week and many other activities organized by different regions of China.

More than one million people from all around the world have visited the China Pavilion up to now, adding to the numerous visitors of the two corporate pavilions of China at the Italian world exposition, Li noted.

"The 2014 commercial exchange between China and Italy exceeded 48 billion U.S. dollars, with a 10.7 percent increase over the previous year," Li underlined. Meanwhile, he added, the number of Chinese tourists coming to Italy annually has grown to around two millions from some 250,000 only a few years ago.

"China and Italy are two superpowers in the cultural field, not only in history but also in the contemporary world," Francesco Rutelli, a former culture minister of the Italian government and current chairman of Priorita Cultura (Culture is Priority) association, told Xinhua on the sidelines of the event, which was attended by speakers in various fields including audiovisual, food, design, sports and media.

"In this conference we have gathered representatives of all sectors of the Italian and Chinese creative industries who want to meet and collaborate. It is very important that Italy increases its exports to China and Italy increases its investments into Italy so to enhance development fostered by cultural economics," he said.

Priorita Cultura promotes the role of cultural diplomacy as a new tool for international dialogue, human and civil development as well as economic growth, and involves in its activities authoritative representatives of the Italian cultural world.

The conference will continue in the hometown of Venice traveller Marco Polo on Thursday with a round table gathering experts from both countries to discuss the China-proposed "Belt and Road" initiative.

Five memorandums of understanding in different fields were signed on Wednesday, which will be followed by the signing of an important agreement between the port of Ningbo in China and the port of Venice in Italy on Thursday. Endit