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The 3rd International Culture Industry Conference (ICIC) opened on Thursday in the city of Lanzhou, located on the banks of the Yellow River in southwest China's Gansu Province. The conference is part of a larger effort to boost cultural cooperation amid the country's development of the New Silk Road Economic Belt.

Wang Sanyun, Party Chief of Gansu Province, meets with Jagath Balasuriya, Minister of National Heritage of Sri Lanka, on Thursday on the sidelines of the 3rd International Culture Industry Conference in Lanzhou. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]

Gansu is known for its cultural heritage, a sector with strong development potential in the foreseeable future. Because Gansu's local economy is not able to compete with the economies of the eastern coastal provinces, the province is eager to showcase its cultural advantages in order to shape what may be interpreted as a culture-led economy.

The New Silk Road Economic Belt, a strategic concept proposed by President Xi Jinping in September of last year, would incorporate Gansu Province, which was historically a key region on the ancient Silk Road that started in inland China and stretched through central and western Asia to eventually reach Europe.

"The ancient Silk Road created conditions that fostered cultural integration and mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilizations, and 8,000 years of historical and cultural accumulation has given birth to the Silk Road Culture," said Liu Weiping, Governor of Gansu Province, on Thursday at the conference's opening ceremony.

According to official statistics, in 2013, the added value of the cultural sector of the economy in Gansu increased by 35.6 percent, and more than 100 million tourists chose Gansu as a travel destination.

Liu shared his confidence that the ICIC, which was jointly hosted by the Asia-Pacific CEO Association and the Gansu provincial government, would continue to play a significant role in displaying the development of the culture industry and strengthening cultural exchange.

In an effort to shape Gansu as "China's doorway to the West and a strategic base for sub-regional cooperation" and as a "golden segment of the Silk Road Economic Belt," the province will focus more on the development of a green, low-carbon and knowledge-based economy, which will allow the culture sector to play an increasingly important role in changing the pattern of economic development, the governor said.

This notion was shared by Nick Bolkus, global vice chairman of the Asia-Pacific CEO Association, who raised cultural cooperation among countries on the Silk Road Economic Belt to an issue that would impact the future of the global cultural industry. "Over centuries, the trade and cultural 'highways' nurtured each other," said Bolkus, noting that the difference between the two channels could be found "in their respective evolutions."

Bolkus believes that greater cultural understanding, an objective of the ICIC, will "maximize the chances of a peaceful and tolerant future."

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