China hosts 2025 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road

The forum was officially inaugurated by Zheng Jianbang, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. Welcome speeches were also delivered by Wang Ning, Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Yunnan Provincial Committee, Wang Gang, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, Yu Shaoliang, President of the People's Daily, and other senior officials.  

The discussions focused on the role of the Belt and Road Initiative in deepening international cooperation. Special attention was given to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent address at the SCO Plus summit, where he outlined new approaches to global governance aimed at fairness, equality, and sustainable development.

A key topic of the event was the development of transport and logistics partnerships. Chinese Vice Minister of Transport Li Yang highlighted the importance of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route in expanding China-Europe cargo flows. He underscored the significance of launching both road and rail transport along the route, an initiative spearheaded last July by President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and President Xi Jinping.

The forum brought together more than 200 international participants from 87 countries, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of international and regional organizations. In total, 165 media outlets and related institutions are involved.

The program includes the opening ceremony, plenary session, media cooperation dialogue among Belt and Road countries, thematic panel discussions, and the award ceremony for the second Silk Road Global News Awards. Special focus was given to media cooperation between ASEAN countries and the 10+3 Media Cooperation Forum (China, Japan, South Korea).

The forum is organized by People's Daily, the CPC Yunnan Provincial Committee, and the People’s Government of Yunnan Province. This year’s theme is “Shared Media Responsibility for Exchanges and Mutual Learning among Civilizations.”

As reported earlier, China's total foreign trade has reached 29.57 trillion yuan ($4.12 trillion) in the first eight months of this year.