On December 27th, the third Silk Road Friendship Award Ceremony, jointly hosted by the China International Culture Exchange Center (CICEC) and the Global People Magazine of People’s Daily, and co-organized by the China International Culture & Arts Co. Ltd. (CICAC), was held in Beijing. YANG Chuantang, Vice Chairman of 13th National Committee, Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Chairman of the CICEC, HU Guo, Vice President of People’s Daily, LI Baodong, HE Jianzhong, and XU Lirong, Vice Chairpersons of the CICEC, and others were present at the ceremony.

The Belt and Road Initiative is proposed by China but the achievements and opportunities belong to the whole world. Themed on “telling stories of the Belt and Road participants”, the event nominates 11 groups of individual recipients worldwide of this year’s award from a pool of more than one thousand candidates.The recipients come from more than 10 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania, covering politics, economy, culture, education, medical care and other fields. Their stories fully demonstrate that BRI indeed benefits peoples along the Belt and Road and brings a real sense of gain, happiness and security to them all.

At the event, more than 300 people, including diplomatic envoys from nearly 10 countries in China and those at home and abroad who are concerned about the BRI, gathered together to listen to the Ambassadors of Silk Road Friendship telling the extraordinary cross-cultural exchanges of ordinary people in the BRI. The audience could appreciate all these Silk Road stories of people-to-people connectivity.

 

The Ceremony also held the plaque presentation session of the Silk Road International Health Cooperation and the signing session of the Silk Road Youth Entrepreneurship Programme.

In recent years, the Belt and Road countries have made fruitful achievements in cooperation and exchanges in the field of medical and health care. The Silk Road International Health Cooperation Program aims to promote pragmatic medical cooperation, strengthen technical exchanges of medical talents between China and other countries, and better build a community with a shared future for mankind. The Belt and Road Initiative has created new opportunities for youth development, and youth has also injected new impetus into the Belt and Road Initiative. The Silk Road Youth Entrepreneurship Program aims to provide young people with employment and entrepreneurial resources and accelerate the establishment of a new development pattern of youth participation in the Belt and Road Initiative.

At the end, the token of the third Silk Road Friendship Award Ceremony- the Silk Road Treasure ship Blocks Model was released. The Treasure Ship is a symbol of connectivity, peace and friendship for continuing the Silk Road relationship over a thousand of years and embracing the Silk Road dream in the new era.

In the evening, a number of artists performed. The Kuche City Qiuci Dance Troupe opened the ceremony with an artistic piece, Music and Dance of Qiucito reproduce the ancient and prosperous Silk Road culture.