From October 26 to 28, the 7th Annual Conference of the Taihu World Cultural Forum was held in Beijing. Chinese Vice President Han Zheng attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech. President Wang Chao and Vice President Shi Ling of the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) attended the opening ceremony and co-hosted the High-Level Dialogue on Global Civilization Initiative (GCI). At the invitation of CPIFA, former President of Iraq Barham Salih, former Prime Minister of Italy Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Belgium Yves Leterme and former Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Djoomart Otorbaev attended the forum.

President Wang Chao pointed out in his opening remarks at the High-Level Dialogue on GCI that, the GCI proposed by President Xi Jinping is not only another important public good China has shared with the world in the new era, but also China’s latest answer to the question of the century—“what is wrong with this world and what we should do about it”. It advocates seeking wisdom and nutrition from different civilizations, learning from each other and letting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations become the driving force for the progress of human society.

This year’s conference is sponsored by Taihu World Cultral Forum and China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and themed “Mutual learning among civilizations: Jointly Creating a New Model for Human Progress”.