Conference to be held in Maritime Silk Road hub Wenzhou to promote peer city exchanges

WENZHOU, China, Nov. 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As a move to mark the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) this year, the 2023 Mayors Exchange Conference on Maritime Silk Road City Influence will be held from November 24-25 in coastal city Wenzhou in east China's Zhejiang Province.

Through exchanges and interactions among Maritime Silk Road city municipal officials, experts and scholars from 13 foreign countries, the conference seeks to facilitate mutual learning and win-win cooperation in the region, according to the Executive Committee.

Made up by a main session, five parallel sessions, and several special activities, the event will see the release of the "Maritime Silk Road Star City Index" and the list of the "Top 10 Influential Maritime Silk Road Cities 2023," and city branding and case studies by Maritime Silk Road city municipal officials.

As a major activity of the conference, the Maritime Silk Road Star City Index will be launched to offer a scientific evaluation and comprehensive display of diversity of cities along the trade route.

The index system is made up by 20 indicators that assess a city's global connectivity, trade network, culture legacy and international exchanges.

Municipal officials from well-known Maritime Silk Road cities such as China's Wenzhou, Maldives' Male, Italy's Castellamonte and Spain's Barcelona will attend the conference to display their cities' charm and share their cities' unique practices. An initiative to promote innovative development on Maritime Silk Road city cooperation will be released during the conference.

As an important hub along the Maritime Silk Road, Wenzhou is one of the first 14 coastal cities in China to open to the outside world. The Shuomen Ancient Port site located in Wenzhou was selected as one of the top ten national archaeological discoveries in 2022, demonstrating the prosperity and continuity of the ancient trade route on the sea.

At the same time, Wenzhou's trade with the BRI countries increased from 53.33 billion yuan in 2013 to 147.05 billion yuan in 2022.

"In the past decade, the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit has been translated into realities, with more and more stories about the shared prosperity thanks to the BRI's practices on the sea," said Chen Yingxu, vice mayor of Wenzhou. "As members of the Maritime Silk Road, we are a community that share weal and woe," Chen said.