Malta, China enhance cultural exchange

Updated: 2014-09-21 15:27

By Chen Xiaorong(chinadaily.com.cn)

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Malta hopes to play its part in the new Maritime Silk Road as a staging post in the central Mediterranean with China, evoking the spirit of the historic routes. This was revealed by Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at the China-Malta Culture and Media Forum held in Valletta, on September 19, two days before the anniversary of Malta’s independence.

The forum, under the theme of "protection and development of World Heritage", aimed to show the archipelago's marvelous achievements in World Cultural Heritage conservation and restoration, and exchange experiences and views in the field of conservation and restoration with Chinese officials and experts.

Malta's Minister for Tourism Edward Zammit Lewis, Malta's Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government Owen Benicia, Chinese Ambassador to Malta Cai Jinbiao, and Director of the China Cultural Centre in Malta Gu Hongxin, with well-known experts from the two countries, all made speeches focusing on cultural, historic and tourism relations between China and Malta.

The topics included preserving cultural heritage in a sustainable way, and developing cultural promotion through tourism and the film industry, among other avenues.

The one-day forum is sponsored by Malta's Ministry for Tourism, China Cultural Media Group, China Culture Center in Malta and Let's Go Malta Group. Entitled "Across Golden Bridge", this International Culture and Media Forum was set up in 2013 and has been successfully held in both Sweden and Cuba.

It also coincides with the 11th anniversary of the China Cultural Centre in Valletta. Delegates from both sides celebrated its establishment. “I am glad to see cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and Malta are growing more robust year by year,” said Chinese Ambassador to Malta Cai Jinbiao.