Programme

11:30-12:00   Registration
12:00-12:05    Introduction

Mr Axel Goethals, CEO, EIAS

12:05-12:10   Keynote Address

– Mr István Ujhelyi, MEP, Member of the EP’s delegation for relations with China, Vice-Chair of the Transport and Tourism Committee
– Mr Li Jianmin, Minister Counsellor of Education and Culture, Chinese Mission to the EU

12:10-12:15   Welcome Remarks

Mr Song, China Arts and Entertainment Group

12:15-13:00   Panel Discussion

– Mr David Fouquet, Senior Associate, EIAS
– Dr Ingrid d’Hooghe, Senior Research Associate, Clingendael Institute & China Coordinator, Leiden University
– Mr Peter Lescouhier, Head of N.E. Asia Division, Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

12:15-13:00   Dance Performance ‘Silk Road on the Sea’
13:05-13:20   Closing Remarks

Ms Eva Paunova, MEP, Member of the EP’s delegation for relations with China, Member of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee

13:20-14:00   Lunch

Cultural aspects of the Belt and Road Initiative

China is undergoing rapid changes, not only is its domestic landscape changing in various ways, on a global scale China is manifesting itself ever more. One of the key exponents of China’s external policy is the Belt and Road Initiative, which with the aim to create better infrastructural linkages on the Eurasian continent, could be defining for generations to come. A project of such grand scale inevitably garners a high number of responses and interpretations. Yet, it seems that the Belt and Road Initiative is often presented as a mere profit seeking venture to enhance trade, investment and infrastructure.

The cultural and civilizational dimensions of the Initiative are given significantly less attention. Nonetheless, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges are of crucial importance to enhance mutual understanding about ones differences and similarities, and to create environments that can absorb investments. With 2016 to become a year where numerous Belt and Road projects will commence or enter their finishing stages, it is quintessential to likewise increase the number of culturally related projects and programmes in the spirit of the Belt and Road. To this end, the EIAS was honored to welcome a group of China’s most renowned dancers to perform a fragment of ‘Silk Road on the Sea’, and to welcome Mr Li Jianmin, Minister Counsellor of Education and Culture at the Chinese Mission to the EU; Mr István Ujhelyi & Ms Eva Paunova, Members of the EP’s Delegation for Relations with China, to discuss the importance of cultural dimensions in making the Belt and Road Initiative into a success.