On the occasion of the United Nations International Day of Peace, the International Experts Conference of UNESCO was grandly held at the Peace Festival site in Beijing on September 20^th. This conference was jointly organized by UNESCO, the official partner of UNESCO - Beijing International Peace Culture Foundation, and the China Federation of Radio and Television Associations. Dr. Li Ruohong, the president of the China World Peace Foundation and the chairman of the Beijing International Peace Culture Foundation, and representatives from the headquarters of UNESCO attended the event and delivered opening remarks. Experts from China, Jordan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia and other countries in the fields of economy and society, international relations, cultural tourism, law and film gathered together to conduct special discussions on two key projects: "International Youth Short Video Contest" and "Network of Historical Dialogue Places along the Silk Road", in order to promote international friendly city cooperation, protect and disseminate world cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage.

President Li Ruohong stated in his opening speech that the Silk Road is a great bond that enables dialogue and integration among civilizations across continents. Over the course of thousands of years, it has accumulated valuable common heritage of inclusiveness, mutual learning, and peaceful coexistence. As a long-term partner of UNESCO, the Foundation, through the "Peace Garden Peace Festival" as a platform for civil diplomacy, has continuously promoted the protection and development of the Silk Road's cultural heritage memory, as well as cross-cultural dialogue and youth empowerment initiatives. He pointed out that the "Silk Road Youth Rhythms" International Youth Short Film Competition empowers 14-25-year-old youth worldwide with digital images, allowing the living Silk Road heritage to reach the world through the perspective of young people. The construction of the global partnership network for the Silk Road historical dialogue sites aims to discover historical communication sites such as inns, markets, and knowledge centers along the route, establish a global list, and through commemorative plaques, partnership agreements, sustainable tourism, and local capacity building, benefit the livelihoods of communities along the route. We look forward to all experts contributing their wisdom to improve the project's admission standards, review mechanisms, and implementation paths, using cultural heritage and youth power to facilitate mutual understanding and communication among different civilizations and to practice the concept of peaceful development.

Mr. Shabahang, the Programme director of the UNESCO Silk Road Initiative, presided over the all-day expert consultation and discussion. The morning session focused on the International Youth Short Video Contest. Experts from China and abroad in the fields of film and television, artificial intelligence, media, and law fully exchanged opinions on key issues such as the positioning of the event, work norms, protection of original copyright, AI content identification, international review mechanism, and global dissemination and promotion. This event builds on the successful experience of the "Silk Road Youth Eye" International Photography Contest and is open to global submissions of 30-90 second original short videos without AI-generated content. Selected works will be exhibited non-commercially on the multilingual platform of UNESCO and will stimulate creative expression among young people and promote cross-cultural youth dialogue.

In the afternoon, an expert special session was held to discuss the project of the network for dialogue venues along the Silk Road history. Experts from various countries in archaeology, tourism management, and international relations conducted in-depth discussions on the conditions for venue application, selection criteria for members, site protection, cultural and tourism development, empowerment of local communities, and international pairing mechanisms. It was introduced that this network will issue commemorative plaques to eligible historical exchange venues, conduct capacity training, mutual visits and exchanges, and festival coordination. It will leverage responsible and sustainable cultural tourism to drive local social and economic development. This network is independent of various conventions of UNESCO and focuses on various historical sites and relics of diverse civilizations' interactions. The opinions and suggestions formed at this expert meeting will provide an important basis for UNESCO to ultimately determine the network's application and membership criteria.

The experts from China and abroad present at the meeting unanimously agreed that these two projects, based on the shared historical heritage of the Silk Road, connect the protection of historical sites on one end and the global youth community on the other, taking into account heritage protection, youth development and local sustainable development. They are an important practice for the continuous cross-cultural dialogue of UNESCO and the promotion of the peace mission.

This international expert meeting is an important activity under the strategic cooperation framework between the Beijing International Peace Culture Foundation and UNESCO. The foundation will continue to leverage its advantages as a platform for people-to-people diplomacy, deepen standards, enrich forms, build bridges for mutual learning of civilizations, and disseminate the concept of peace.