Italy and China want to strengthen and extend their collaboration in the spheres of culture and tourism to protect their heritages and boost their countries' prosperity, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said Friday during a visit to Beijing.
"We share an extraordinary Unesco heritage - both tangible and intangible. We want to work together more and more for the protection and enhancement of this heritage," Tajani stated.
Promoting tourism that highlights individual regions and villages which are "custodians of art treasures, culture and local excellence" can propel growth, well-being and sustainable development, also for the benefit of local communities, Tajani argued.
Tajani said he was proud to have inaugurated with culture minister Sun Yeli "a splendid exhibition dedicated to Caravaggio".
The minister hailed the Italian baroque master as "an extraordinary ambassador for Italy in the world".
"Culture is synonymous with peace and dialogue," Tajani said, noting that museum exchanges were a topic being looked at by the Italy-China cultural forum which he opened on Friday.
"Then there are exchanges between universities and academic institutions and language study programmes - instruments to boost knowledge but also trade, exports, investments and the development of a culture of industry," said Tajani.
"This is also why I wanted to strengthen the tool of scholarships,” he said. ”Culture and tourism play an important role in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)."
