IRNA � The two-day Silk Road international cooperation forum known as the �Belt and Road Forum� started in Beijing on Sunday with attendance of Iran�s Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance.


Ali Tayebnia arrived in the Chinese capital on Saturday to participate in the forum. He plans to meet some of his counterparts and other participants of the conference on the sidelines of the event on Monday.

More than 1,200 people, including officials, scholars, researchers, and heads of states from 110 countries are also present in the forum.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in the opening speech of the conference, described the Silk Road as �a great heritage of human civilization� which embodies the spirit of �peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefits�.

The human community is developing and changing quickly, however, it faces a lot of challenges, such as fast expansion of terrorism, President Xi said.

He said that over the past four years, since China has introduced the �One Road, One Belt� project, more than 100 countries and international organizations have joined in to give their backing for the initiative or participate in the related activities.

Leaders from 28 countries, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde are among the special guests of the forum, which is expected to end on Monday.

The conference focuses on strengthening international cooperation, launching joint efforts to revive the Silk Road and to promote win-win progress among nations.

On the menu are also signing documents with more that 20 countries and 20 international organizations, fostering cooperation for executing more than 20 energy projects, and issues like transportation, trade, resources, infrastructure plans, and investments.