by Marzia De Giuli, Song Jian
MILAN, Italy, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- As China is pushing ahead with its initiative to jointly build the New Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, or the Belt and Road Initiative, a crew reached its final destination here in Milan on Monday after a long journey across Eurasia.
The crew, composed of eight vehicles, left Shanghai on Aug. 8 and travelled around 16,000 km across more than 10 countries including Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey and Greece along the ancient route.
A welcome ceremony was held in the China Pavilion at the Milan world exposition, where the crew and organizers of the project met with local authorities.
"This is a very meaningful event," Wang Jinzhen, Commissioner General for China Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015 and Vice Chairman of China Council For The Promotion Of International Trade (CCPIT), said at the ceremony.
Not only Monday's arrival expresses the friendship between China, Italy and the rest of the world, but also reflects the initiative launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2013, he noted.
In history, Wang explained, the Silk Road served as a link between Asia and Europe.
In the era of China's rapid growth and world globalization, the ancient Silk Road has regained attention.
A documentary named "The Silk Road in a New Century" focused on the history, culture and the economies of the countries that were crossed by the crew during its incredible march.
The project was jointly organized by the China Association of Social Art, Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio, De Feng Lida Group and Guangdefeng Culture Investment (Beijing) Co., Ltd.
In an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the event, Francesco Rutelli, former culture minister of Italy and current chairman of Priorita Cultura (Culture is Priority), an association promoting culture as a tool for international dialogue, highlighted there is a number of sectors where China and Italy can collaborate thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative.
"For example, talking of the Milan world exposition, which is dedicated to sustainable nutrition and healthy food, exchange agreements have been recently made to foster mutual knowledge and exchange between China and Italy in the culinary arts," Rutelli underlined.
A Chinese crew which has walked through as many as 16,000 km to reach Italy, he stressed, is another of the "many positive signs" along this new Silk Road that are finding concrete response in several joint initiatives, from infrastructures and design, tourism and sports.
China is developing what can be called "cultural diplomacy" and Italy is its "natural interlocutor in opening to these two cultural superpowers a number of valuable opportunities," Rutelli concluded.
