Opening ceremony of Silk Road Cuisine Display in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, on Sept 11 [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

There was an opening ceremony for the 4-day Silk Road Cuisine Display in the city of Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, on Sept 11, for the city's 2500th anniversary and to increase cooperation and exchanges with Silk Road countries, especially Italy.

The activity is in response to China's Belt and Road Initiative, with the Yangzhou government, Italian embassy in Beijing, and China Public Diplomacy Association as hosts and it attracted diplomats from Silk Road countries and delegates from 27 countries and five international organizations.

Zhu Minyang, mayor of Yangzhou, addressing the gathering [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The mayor of Yangzhou, Zhu Minyang, told the ceremony that Huaiyang Cuisine, one of China's four major cuisines, and Italian cuisine, characteristic of Western cuisine, are relatively popular around the world, and that the show gives people a better understanding of China and Italy.

Zhu went on to say that Yangzhou has an abundance of agricultural products and plans to make food a pillar industry and is establishing a food industrial park. Its food industry revenues were up 20 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2015 and it expects more exchanges with Italy in the economy and culture.

Francesco Rutelli, president of Alliance for Italy, speaking at the ceremony[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Francesco Rutelli, president of Alliance for Italy and a former deputy prime minister, said that food plays an important role in cooperation with Yangzhou and that they anticipate that this food exchange will facilitate cooperation with China in food.

Yangzhou also received recognition as an International City of Cuisine by the World Association of Chinese Cuisine at the ceremony.