by Diao Ze, Chen Yu
BRUSSELS, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Crans Montana Forum held a special program under the theme of "the 21st Century Silk Roads: Global Trade and Global Security" in Brussels Thursday, highlighting the development and global security in the Silk Road regions.
As a distinctive part of the 18th annual session of Crans Montana Forum, the session was co-organized by the Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce (SRCIC), which offered a unique networking platform gathering government officials, international organizations and entrepreneurs from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and other parts of the world.
This Session, chaired by Lu Jianzhong, the SRCIC's Chairman, made the keynote speech stressing the impact of the globalization and trade within some 65 Silk Road countries, as well as the importance of communication in order to overcome protectionism of governments.
"Holding this conference, our ultimate goal is that we could promote communications of different countries and areas through culture and economy. Meanwhile, we hope to tackle conflicts through dialogue and negotiation." Lu told Xinhua.
Founded in Hong Kong, 2015, the Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce aims to link the international business community to the Belt and Road initiative.
The Belt and Road initiative launched by China in 2013 refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and the initiative aims at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of Silk Road.
By nurturing relations between chambers of commerce throughout the Silk Road regions, Lu believed that more and more international and national enterprises will participate in the construction of the Silk Road.
"We create platforms. And we hope that we could promote international trade through economic and cultural communication and also strengthen ties between different countries," he explained.
"The new rules of international economic activities are being formed. We need to participate actively so as to influence the making of international rules,"he said, stressing that the Belt and Road initiative should be recognized by more and more actors as an alternative model to revive and preserve global trade and investment as drivers for global peace and prosperity.
The Crans Montana Forum is a Swiss Non-Governmental International Organization whose importance and prestige have been globally well-established since 1986. Its oldest forums are held each year in Crans-Montana (CH-VS) and Geneva (CH-GE).
