Chinese, foreign cities to develop tourism along silk road

Nineteen Chinese and foreign cities along the historic Silk Road today signed a declaration to jointly develop tourism along the ancient trade route.
The cities will promote tourist itineraries and explore tourism resources to rejuvenate the areas along the route and seek mutual benefit, said the declaration, issued at the opening ceremony of the fourth Silk Road International Tourism Festival in Zhangye City of northwest China's Gansu Province.
The 19 cities include some in the Chinese provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Taiwan, as well as in Belarus, Ukraine, Bahrain, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Nepal, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The initiative comes under China's strategic vision of the Silk Road Economic Belt, a strengthened set of trade infrastructure along the ancient Silk Road.
China will cooperate with countries along the Silk Road for more tourist-friendly policies, set up promotion platforms and boost interconnection along the route, Shao Qiwei, head of China's National Tourism Administration said.
The 19 cities will hold tourism expos and forums in 2014.

The Silk Road Economic Belt was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year.
Strengthening economic ties along the route is seen as an opportunity for China to continue its opening up to the world and maintain economic advances.

The Silk Road connected China and Europe from around 100 BC.