LANZHOU /China/, August 05. /ITAR-TASS/. China will develop cooperation with Russian regions promoting its concept for a New Silk Road Economic Belt, aiming to bring together Asia and Europe, Wang Gengnian, the director-general of China’s state-run radio station China Radio International (CRI), said on Monday as a group of foreign journalists started their trip across China’s northwestern province of Gansu.

“This year, we want to show the world a part of the Great Silk Road located in Gansu province, thereby demonstrating the province’s potential,” Wang Gengnian told ITAR-TASS.

In ancient times, the Great Silk Road was a transport corridor connecting China with other countries, he said.

“It facilitated both the establishment of contacts and the economic growth of China and its bordering states,” he said. “Two thousand years have passed since then. However, the need for joint development and cooperation has not reduced.”

“We hope that this trip will help to strengthen relations between Gansu province and Russian regions,” Wang Gengnian said.

For seventeen days, journalists from Algeria, Russia, South Korea, Singapore, Turkey, China and Canada will travel 1,200 kilometres across the province of Gansu, home to many ancient monuments along the Silk Road including temples, monasteries, pagodas, towers and ancient palaces.

Last year, Chinese officials began actively promoting the establishment of a New Silk Road Economic Belt, which would develop trade and infrastructure from Central Asia to the Mediterranean by building a network of railways and various energy source pipelines through strategically located countries throughout Central Asia.

Earlier this summer, China hosted a Silk Road Economic Belt Media Cooperation forum in Beijing, which state media said was intended to “rejuvenate the Silk Road by encouraging interregional development.