BRI countries continue to promote people-to-people ties: white paper

BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Participating countries will continue to promote people-to-people ties through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation, said a white paper released by China's State Council Information Office on Tuesday.

The white paper, titled "The Belt and Road Initiative: A Key Pillar of the Global Community of Shared Future," said that as its scope expands, the BRI has become the world's largest platform for international cooperation, with the broadest coverage.

People-to-people ties are the social foundations of BRI cooperation, said the document. The participating countries have passed on and carried forward the spirit of friendly cooperation of the ancient Silk Road, cooperated on exchanges in culture, tourism, education, the media and academia, and promoted mutual learning among civilizations and cultural integration and innovation.

Cooperation on culture and tourism is rich and colorful, according to the white paper. By the end of June 2023, China had signed cultural and tourism cooperation documents with 144 countries.

Educational exchanges and cooperation are extensive and profound, said the white paper. China has released the Education Action Plan for the Belt and Road Initiative to promote international education exchanges and cooperation. By the end of June 2023, China had signed agreements with 45 participating countries on the mutual recognition of higher education degrees.

Media and think tank cooperation has yielded fruitful results, it said. BRI countries have successfully held the Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road six times, and established the Belt and Road Media Community.

Cities from 60-plus other BRI countries have formed more than 1,000 pairs of friendly cities with their Chinese counterparts. A total of 352 NGOs from 72 countries and regions have formed a Silk Road NGO Cooperation Network, carrying out over 500 projects and various other activities, and becoming an important platform for exchanges and cooperation between NGOs in BRI countries.

Leveraging their respective strengths, participating countries have continued to expand BRI cooperation into new fields and created innovative cooperation models, achieving great progress in building a healthy, green, digital and innovative Silk Road and further broadening the space for international cooperation, according to the white paper.