The 2017 Euro-Asia Economic Forum will be held in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, from September 21 to 23.

Themed "Jointly Building the Belt and Road: Synergizing Development Strategies", it will help implement the Belt and Road Initiative and also provide a platform to specifically boost trade and investment between Shaanxi and Eurasian countries, said Wei Zengjun, deputy director of the forum's organizing committee and vice governor of Shaanxi, at a press conference in Beijing on July 21.

This year's forum will also include an exhibition and an investment symposium to attract foreign investment. The high-level dialogue is meant to promote inter-connectivity, carry out international capacity cooperation, and build a platform for trade and investment among countries along the Belt and Road routes.

The biennial forum was launched in 2005 and Xi'an was named its permanent venue in 2007. Xi'an is the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, the overland trade route opened when China's imperial envoy Zhang Qian was sent west on a diplomatic mission more than 2,000 years ago during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220).

The Belt and Road Initiative—China's proposal to build a Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road in cooperation with related countries—was unveiled by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visits to Central and Southeast Asia in September and October 2013.

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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