The launching ceremony of 2022 Discover China Cultural Tour is held in Beijing on July 18. [Photo provided to Chinaculture.org]

The launching ceremony of 2022 Discover China Cultural Tour was held in Beijing on Monday.

Hu Heping, minister of culture and tourism, attended the event with 58 diplomats from 40 countries. Before the ceremony, Hu met with 12 ambassadors on-site.

Hu said at the ceremony that China puts a high value on culture and tourism communication, and is ready to strengthen the cooperation with other countries.

The launching ceremony of 2022 Discover China Cultural Tour is held in Beijing on July 18. [Photo provided to Chinaculture.org]

To achieve this goal, Hu put forward four proposals during the ceremony. The first is to maintain the culture diversity by promoting mutual appreciation, exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations and cultures, laying a solid foundation for enhancing friendship between peoples and building new international relations, as well as advancing the human progress.

Second, follow the development trend of digitalization, networking and intellectualization, and promote the construction of online communication channels, developing culture and tourism in an innovative and intelligent manner.

The third one is to deepen the cultural trade and tourism cooperation, and take advantage of market mechanisms, to optimize and upgrade cultural products and services, as well as revitalize cultural industries and tourism.

The last point is to improve the communication mechanism and enrich the cultural exchange, as well as perfect the communication platform and broaden the cooperation channels, to expand the influence of communication and fuel cultural cooperation.

According to Hu, China has signed cultural cooperation agreements with 157 countries and established 41 bilateral and multilateral cultural and tourism cooperation mechanisms, forming a global intergovernmental cooperation network.

Guests view the exhibition Treasures of China at the China National Arts and Crafts Museum and China Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum in Beijing. [Photo provided to Chinaculture.org]

At the ceremony, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism also announced the tour routes of 2022 Discover China Cultural Tour. Guests from home and abroad viewed the exhibition Treasures of China at the China National Arts and Crafts Museum and China Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum.

2022 Discover China Cultural Tour will run through the end of this year. During the event, foreign diplomats will travel to eight provinces and regions, including Yunan, Hunan, Hebei, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Guangxi, and Hainan to experience Chinese culture.