21世纪海上丝绸之路国际研讨会

The event was themed "collectively building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and creating a community of common destiny".

Jiang Jianguo is the director of China's State Council Information Office.

He explains why mutual trust and collaboration are so important to this initiative.

"Maritime Silk Road enables countries along it to live together as a big family. It is a community of common destiny. Currently, the Maritime Silk Road has entered a new stage of pragmatic cooperation. We can step up collaboration to reach a win-win situation. Through this we can continue to bring prosperity and progress by jointly accomplishing programs and creating common interests."

Fujian Province is recognized worldwide as the starting point of the ancient maritime Silk Road.

Since the Tang Dynasty, Fujian has been a part of the time-honored trade route.

Nowadays, Fujian continues to play a major role in maritime trade.

You Quan is Communist Party chief of Fujian province.

He says that the Province has always been a pioneer of China's reform and opening-up and a close trading partner of Southeast Asian countries.

"Fujian will step up infrastructure construction to improve air, sea and land traffic. We will create a port clearance mechanism to facilitate the goods flow and personnel exchange. In the meantime, we will try to promote multiple trades and to advance maritime cooperation. It's crucial to accelerate the experimental process of Fujian Free Trade Area thus making contributions to the Road."

On the enterprise front, companies from countries along the Maritime Silk Road have high expectations.

Sun Zhiyong is vice general manager of China Huaneng Group, one of the country's State-owned enterprises to go global.

"We are willing to communicate and cooperate with the countries along the "Belt and Road" in order to aid business. Especially in the energy sector, we can cooperate in new projects, energy saving and environmental protection, technology innovation and personnel exchanges, among others. We believe in the future, we are able to develop more and more opportunities."

In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping suggested that China and Central Asia join hands to build a Silk Road Economic Belt to boost cooperation.

Later, President Xi proposed the building of a more closely-knit China-ASEAN community following a common destiny and provided guidance for constructing a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to promote maritime cooperation.

The "Belt and Road" initiative has since been frequently mentioned by Chinese leaders.

For CRI, this is Wang Wei.