Your Excellency Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan,

Excellencies, Colleagues,

I thank Armenia, as Chair of the Forum for 2024, for organizing today’s meeting.

In 2017, China and Greece jointly launched the Ancient Civilizations Forum to promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. Over the past seven years, we have continuously broadened our consensus on cooperation in the fields of culture, heritage, tourism, and sports, and the Forum has been growing from strength to strength.

China remains strongly committed to exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations. The epitome of such commitment is the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping, which advocates respect for the diversity of civilizations, the common values of humanity, the importance of inheritance and innovation of civilizations, as well as robust people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. As the world’s leading ancient civilizations, we should continue to work together for dialogue among civilizations, contribute to international solidarity, and help address the common challenges facing all humanity. Here, I’d like to make four points.    

First, advocating exchanges and mutual learning. Different civilizations have been interacting with one another since the beginning of human society. We should choose exchanges and mutual learning instead of clashes and conflicts. The world is big enough to accommodate different civilizations, development paths, and political systems. Our differences should be a driver for common progress, rather than an obstacle to dialogue. 

Second, striving for consensus through dialogue. Peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom are humanity’s shared aspirations. That said, countries may take different approaches to translate those common values into reality. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. We should commit to dialogue, embrace diversity, and do our best to understand and respect each other’s choices. 

Third, advancing with the times. While drawing strength from our time-honored history, we should also take full advantage of emerging technologies to drive the progress of civilization and further contribute our wisdom to overcome today’s problems. 

Fourth, putting the people front and center. People should be at the heart of the dialogue among civilizations. We should further deepen cooperation in science, education, culture, health, and people-to-people exchanges, so as to increase mutual understanding and friendship between our peoples.

Colleagues,

China has been taking concrete actions to establish platforms for dialogue among civilizations. We have held conferences on civilizational dialogue with almost all regions around the world, including Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Arab region. In June this year, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the resolution on International Day for Dialogue among Civilizations proposed by China. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank many of you here for the support and co-sponsorship.

China has also been making tireless efforts in the preservation and innovative development of ancient cultures. We have carried out 44 archaeological collaborations with the Belt and Road partners and organized more than 500 exhibitions showcasing cultural relics around the world. To promote people-to-people exchanges, we have introduced more than 110 measures to facilitate the entry of foreigners into China, and implemented a 24-hour visa-free transit policy. 

Colleagues,

Each ancient civilization has its unique role to play. China supports the gradual and orderly enlargement of the Forum to further deepen and expand our cultural ties and explore new areas of cooperation. We also support the Forum in enhancing cooperation and coordination with the UN agencies, including the UN Alliance of Civilizations and UNESCO. 

I thank you.