The 2025 World Canal Cities Forum took place in Yangzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, on Oct 16, showcasing canals' role in promoting exchanges and mutual learning across the globe.

The 2025 World Canal Cities Forum is hosted in Yangzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, on Oct 16. [Photo/WeChat account: yzs_lyj]

This year's forum was themed around "Canal, Culture & Tourism" and jointly organized by the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. 

Attendees included diplomatic envoys of diverse countries based in China, representatives of international organizations, experts and scholars in Chinese canal culture and tourism, and domestic and foreign relevant units and enterprises involved in cultural tourism industries and canal heritage preservation.

Chen Zhongwei, vice-governor of Jiangsu, extended a warm welcome to all guests. He stated that from the past to the present, canals have driven economic prosperity, facilitated the rise of cities, and promoted cultural exchanges and mutual appreciation among civilizations, becoming a shared historic memory and precious asset of humanity. He also emphasized that Jiangsu province is the starting point of the Bejing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and is home to most of its heritage sites in China.

Wang Jinjian, secretary of the Yangzhou Municipal Committee of the CPC, pointed out in his speech that Yangzhou, a city positioned as the starting point of the Grand Canal, has been always upholding a sense of historic responsibility and cultural self-consciousness and continuously strengthened the integrated cultural tourism development rooted in its rich canal heritage, with a commitment to creating a canal protection and inheritance case of humanistic economics.

Miguel Lecaro Bárcenas, Panama's ambassador to China, gave a speech stressing that Panama and Yangzhou, though separated by thousands of miles, are connected by waterways and share a deep mutual understanding that the Panama Canal and China's Grand Canal are both cultural treasures with profound historical significance.

Additionally, videos were played showcasing the achievements of the Grand Canal's successful inscription as a World Heritage Site and the Canal Walk initiative launched in canal cities worldwide. A tourism initiative for global canal cities was also released.