Silk Road is more than just a conduit for vehicles: Rashid

Information Minister says Silk road will promote exchange of ideas, cultural understanding

MOSCOW:

The Silk Road is more than just a conduit for vehicles and commodities, it is a means for exchange of ideas with the purpose of bringing people living along the route closer, said Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid on Tuesday.

“This [Silk] road is not just for vehicles, commodities and goods, but for promoting exchange of ideas, cultural understanding to bring socio-economic well-being to all the regions along the historical Silk Route,” Rashid said while addressing the ministerial-level meeting of the 2nd Silk Road International Cultural Forum in Moscow.

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He added that the road’s concept of ‘one belt, one road’ should be modified to include “one mission” – that of bringing all the different people who live along the road closer through intermingling of cultures.

The minister assured the forum that Pakistan will fully support and cooperate in any effort to enhance the people-to-people contact through various institutional mechanisms.

Read: China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: Lines of development – not lines of divide

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2015.