Nineteen cities on the “Silk Road” connecting China and Europe, have signed a joint declaration to develop tourism along the historic trade route.
The cities intend to promote tourism in order to rejuvenate the areas along the route. The declaration was issued at the opening ceremony of the fourth Silk Road International Tourism Festival in Zhangye City, in China's Gansu Province.
The 19 cities include some in the Chinese provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Taiwan, as well as in Belarus, Ukraine, Bahrain, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Nepal.
The initiative comes under China's strategic vision of the Silk Road Economic Belt, a strengthened set of trade infrastructure along the ancient Silk Road.
The Silk Road Economic Belt was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year.