The rapid development of trade and tourism along the new Silk Road is vital to the economic survival of the regions along the route, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
"If the regions along the new Silk Road fail to attain rapid development in trade and tourism, their economies could hardly be sustainable," Khalid Malik, UN coordinator and UNDP resident representative in China, said in Lanzhou, capital of northwestern Gansu Province.
"We will help them break the blocks holding back the growth of the two sectors," said Malik at the on-going 2007 International Symposium on Regional Economic Cooperation along the new Silk Road.
The new Eurasian Continental Bridge is also called the new Silk Road as it is much like the 2,100-year-old old Silk Road in terms of its regional shape.
The 10,900-km route links eastern China's ports of Lianyungang and Rizhao with Amsterdam, Holland, and Antwerp, Belgium.
The two-day symposium, along with the Silk Road Mayors Forum and Entrepreneurs Summit, aims to expand the influence of the continental bridge and to revive the Silk Road, Malik said.
"If the transportation costs on the way can be cut by 20 percent, it will then be more competitive than by sea," he said.
"The new Silk Road will help revive trade activities and also bring tremendous economic opportunities for the regions as well as people living along it."
Malik urged the regions to expand fiber optic communications cable networks to facilitate phone and Internet connections, and investment activities, tourism and logistics development.
The symposium, sponsored by the UNDP, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Information Industry, and Lanzhou People's Government, has attracted more than 500 delegates from 12 counties and regions along the new Silk Road.
It focuses on the development of modern logistics in the region as well as the construction of the cooperation networks for the cities along the new Silk Road in China.
(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2007)