The Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD), in partnership with the Center for Strategic Research (SAM) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), and the Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, organized an international conference in Istanbul, Turkey on 12 December, which explored the strategic potential of the new Silk Roads concept.
The conference brought together distinguished political figures, diplomats, academics and other opinion-makers from number of countries historically associated with Silk Roads, with the particular focus on participation from countries that form two of the most important termini of the projected new Silk Roads: the Balkans-Caucaus region and China.
In a written message, H.E. Dr. Ahmet Davutoglu, Prime Minister of Turkey, expressed his full support to the conference and its organizers stating that "that the revival of the ancient Silk Roads is a civilizational project."
At the opening of the conference, CIRSD President Mr. Vuk Jeremic stated that "the Silk Road vision aspires to change how we perceive our frontiers - to respect our borders fully as a sovereign markers of territorial integrity, whilst opening them up to capital, goods, people and technologies from across Euroasia and beyond." Jeremic concluded that "in order to make our part of the world into a global center of attraction, we will need to work more closely together - as think-tanks, societies, business people, and governments - to ensure we make the right strategic decisions, and so propel our region forward through win-win cooperaton for sustainable prosperity."
During the keynote segment, Mr. Li Wei, Minister, President of the DRC and Member of CIRSD Board of Advisors, made a proposal to institutionalize cooperation among think-tanks, as well as between think-tanks, governments and enterprises,and jointly build the Silk Road Think-tank Network. H.E. Dr. Igor Luksic, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Montenegro underlined that "the revival of the Silk Road concept might prove an opportunity for linking the Western Balkans with distant countries and various regions along more than 7000 km long way."
The remainder of the conference consisted of five panel discussions entitled "Mutually Beneficial and Win-win Silk Roads", "Interconnected Silk Roads", "Open and Inclusive Silk Roads", "Sustainable Silk Roads", and " Cooperation of Think Tanks along Silk Roads", and featured remarks by highly-respected academics and public policy experts.
Concluding remarks were made by H.E. Mr. Miguel Ángel Moratinos Cuyabe, former Foreign Minister of Spain and Honorary Chairman of the CIRSD Board of Advisors; H.E. Mr. Shaukat Aziz, former Prime Minister of Pakistan and Member of the CIRSD Board of Advisors, and Prof. Dr. Peter Nolan, director of the Centre for Development Studies at the University of Cambridge.
Photo gallery from the conference is available here.
