The “2018 World Cities Culture (Tianfu) Symposium”, undertaken by Chengdu Media Group, was held in Chengdu on June 21. Representatives from 22 member cities of the World Cities Culture Forum (WCCF) and 9 core cities along the Belt and Road routes gathered on the forum to seek for cultural cooperation and sharing under the Belt and Road Initiative. During the symposium, it was determined that the “Belt and Road” World Cities Culture Center would be settled in Chengdu.
According to Paul Owens, Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of WCCF, the “Belt and Road” World Cities Center will be established to connect the world with culture and build a wider platform for the exchange and integration of excellent cultures around the world. It will promote cultural and creative cooperation among cities along the Belt and Road routes and better serve the Belt and Road Initiative.
Furthermore, the participants jointly released the Chengdu Declaration of World Cities Culture Tianfu Symposium. According to the Declaration, culture is a prerequisite for sustainable development of cities. This is the basic principle that enables ideological, institutional and relationship diversity of city construction. Cities are the ties of global economy, and an economic network for global prosperity is taking shape.
It is known that WCCF was established in 2012 under the initiative of the Greater London Authority. It consists of 38 member cities, including London, New York, Paris, Sydney, Rome, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Milan. The forum plays a leading role in the world in urban cultural development and cultural policy formulation. It is also the world’s top cultural think tank.
Chengdu as a “Pioneering Emerging World City”
The Organizing Committee of WCCF released the first research report on the cultural development of the “Belt and Road” world cities — Emerging World Cities: Connecting the World with Culture – Cultural Exchange and Dialogue among World Cities under the Belt and Road Initiative. According to the report, Chengdu seizes new opportunities as a core link in the Belt and Road initiative. Fostered by the Tianfu culture of “innovation and creation, elegance and fashion, optimism and inclusiveness, and friendship and commonweal”, Chengdu shows significant influence and potential in many global indicators. It is a “pioneering emerging world city”.
Serving the Belt and Road Initiative Comprehensively
On the forum, Chengdu Media Group and WCCF signed the Cooperation Framework Agreement on Settlement of the “Belt and Road” World Cities Culture Center in Chengdu. Under the context of comprehensively carrying out the strategic thought of opening-up of General Secretary Xi Jinping, firmly implementing the major requirements of opening-up proposed by Xi Jinping on his visit to Sichuan, building Chengdu into an international gateway hub and inland opening-up highland with high quality, striving for the brand of “Three Cities and Three Capitals” (World Famous Cultural and Creative City, World Famous Tourism City, World Famous Competition City, International Capital of Food, International Capital of Music, and International Capital of Exhibition), building Chengdu into a city fully presenting new development ideas, and striving to realize the “Three-step Development” strategic objective of Chengdu in a new era, both parties will leverage their superior resources to promote and introduce t
he settlement of the “Belt and Road” World Cities Center in Chengdu. Hopefully, the center will facilitate international cultural exchange, enhance cooperation between cultural and creative programs and industries, and promote the industrial development of both parties.
Source: Chengdu Media Group
