On August 28, upon the invitation from Vice-Premier of the Republic of Uzbekistan and officials from UNESCO, a delegation headed by Dr. Li Ruohong, President of China World Peace Foundation and Beijing International Peace Culture Foundation participated in the conference and Dr. Li delivered a speech along with Dr. Nigmatilla T. Yuldashev, Speaker of the Senate of Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Dr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of UNWTO, Dr. Badarch Dendev, Head of UNESCO office in Uzbekistan, Mr. Sergey N. Lebedev, Chairman of the Executive Committee and Executive Secretary of the CIS and Dr. Abdulaziz Bin Othman Al-Tuwaijri, Director General of the ISESCO. The government and parliament of Uzbekistan, foreign diplomatic envoys stationed in Tashkent and UNESCO representatives also took part in the conference.
The guests reviewed the outstanding achievements of the splendid history of civilization in Uzbekistan and its sages’ indelible contribution in the fields of science and technology, literature, education, philosophy, religion, spirit and culture for the Islamic as well as world civilization. They also elaborated the rosy vision and action plan for the revival of Central Asia Civilization.
In his speech during the plenary session, President Li gave the example of Zhang Qian, an ancient Chinese diplomatic envoy whose visit to Xiyu (the western part of China) has launched the interaction in public diplomacy, economy and culture along the Silk Road. Today, China's Belt and Road Initiative bonded by people’s connectivity will play a positive role in promoting the great unity for the people around the world. China has now become the most important investment and trade partner of the Central Asian countries. Both sides have strong complementarity in science and technology, energy, agriculture and infrastructure. They should strengthen mutual understanding and expand tourism and education cooperation so that the younger generation can know each other better and share the fruits of development in dialogues. President Li also introduced guests from various countries an interactive cultural atlas of cultural interactions along the Silk Roads, a project co-developed by his Foundation and UNESCO. He pointed out that, as a brand project, the revival of Central Asia should combine information technology and traditional ways to inherit and develop the regional civilization, spread sustainable positive energy in the Belt and Road, and bring into full play of traditional civilization in Central Asia in industrial and information technology.