Xinhua media tour promotes New Silk Road concept in Germany

A media tour highlighting China's New Silk Road economic belt initiative on Friday started its Germany segment, the tour's final stop.

The reporting and awareness-raising tour, with "New Silk Road, Great Dream" as its theme, was launched by China's Xinhua News Agency in Western Chinese city of Xi'an in June to promote cooperation and understanding among nations along the Silk Road.

Since then, a convoy of 10 SUVs carrying Xinhua reporters has visited several Chinese provinces, as well as Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland.

"As two important economies of the 'New Silk Road', China and Germany have maintained very close cooperation," Meng Fanzhuang, minister counselor for commerce at the Chinese embassy in Germany, told a ceremony inaugurating the German part of the tour.

"The strategic conception of the New Silk Road economic belt, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, has received positive responses from countries along the belt and will revive the ancient Silk Road," said Meng.

He said Germany and China are optimistic about the prospects of the "New Silk Road" and believe it will boost bilateral strategic cooperation.

Deputy President of Germany's Schiller Institute Rainer Apel called the "New Silk Road" a link between China and Europe, which will promote communication and cooperation and has broad prospects.

"It will boost exchange and cooperation between Germany and China in various fields and create a lot of opportunities for the development of the countries along the 'road'," he told the guests at the ceremony.

In the following days, Xinhua reporters on the tour are scheduled to make reporting stops in German cities such as Berlin, Wolfsburg, Hannover, Hamburg and Frankfurt.