China Welcomes Offer To Host 4th Silk Road Confab

Tabriz, East Azarbaijan Prov., June 25, IRNA – Head of Chinese delegation to the International Silk Road Conference, Kan Kaipe, has welcomed proposal of the Governor General of East Azarbaijan, Ahmad-Ali Rezabeigi, to host the next round of the conference. Kan Kaipe said all the countries located along the Silk Road should try to promote economic and trade relations among themselves. He said commercial talks will help upgrade trade relations between Iran and China. Iran held the 3rd International Silk Road Conference at the Iranian city of Tabriz in an attempt to promote friendship among the countries located along the ancient route. Many traders, economic advisers, ambassadors and ministers from 18 countries along the Silk Road (Silk Route) attended the opening ceremony held in the capital city of Iranian province of East Azerbaijan on June 23, 2012. “The main objective of the conference is to revitalize Silk Road as the route plays a significant role in economic, culture and communication among nations,” said Director of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization Hamid Safdel. The countries lying along the Silk Road can promote their cooperation and trade affairs by lowering tariffs on trade and eliminating non-tariff, he added. The Silk Road is a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that helped the transport of art, goods and poetry from the edge of Asia to the heart of Europe, back and forth, for nearly 3000 years. Many of its sites are on the UNESCO Heritage list. True to its name, merchants sold Asian silk in Italy. Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and then Islam spread through much of Central Asia along the Route. Persian Art also spread to India, China as well as the Central European states through this road. It has taken decades to write complete books on the Silk Road./end