The first "Belt and Road Alliance for Traditional Chinese Medicine-Traditional Medicine Summit Forum" was successfully held on January 12, 2025, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Leaders and scholars from the traditional medicine industry in the Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and various countries gathered to explore new opportunities for traditional medicine under the Belt and Road Initiative, seeking pathways for cooperation and development in traditional medicine. The Forum aimed to enhance collaboration between higher education institutions and industries among the Belt and Road regions, promote the inheritance and innovation of traditional Chinese medicine, and integrate it into modern practices for a global reach.
The Forum received strong support from the government, industry, and various professional associations, including funding from the Hong Kong SAR Government's Professional Services Advancement Support Scheme (PASS), sponsorship from CK Hair & Beauty Products Limited, and co-hosting by university departments and professional associations.
In his welcome speech, Professor Lee Hong Seng, Associate Vice President of CUHK, said: "In recent years, promoting the high-quality integration of traditional Chinese medicine into the Belt and Road Initiative has been a hot topic. This plan is an important area for advancing the construction of a healthy Silk Road, a crucial measure for building health cooperation partnerships, and a significant component for promoting high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative. It also serves as an important vehicle for establishing a shared human health community."
Dr. Vincent Chung, Commissioner for Chinese Medicine Development of the Hong Kong SAR Government, remarked during his speech: "The Hong Kong government has been dedicated to promoting comprehensive and high-quality development of traditional Chinese medicine. We continuously invest resources in areas such as collaboration between Chinese and Western medicine, research in Chinese medicine, quality control of Chinese herbal medicine, Chinese medicine services, and training of Chinese medicine professionals, with the aim of leveraging Hong Kong's unique advantages in traditional Chinese medicine to develop it as a bridgehead for the internationalisation of Chinese medicine."
The Forum included two keynote speeches and parallel sessions, focusing on the future outlook of traditional medicine under the Belt and Road Initiative, the role of traditional medicine in disease prevention and treatment, and related research in herbal medicine. The conference invited 16 experts from eight regions and seven countries to share insights, with major speakers including Director Tian Xingjun from the Sichuan Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Professor Rudolf Bauer from the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of University of Graz in Austria. They shared new opportunities for international cooperation in traditional Chinese medicine and how to apply traditional medicine into future healthcare systems.
During the fourteen parallel sessions, the speakers interacted and exchanged ideas with participants. Professor Chan Wai-yee, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of CUHK, mentioned in his closing remarks, " We hope that this large-scale summit forum can enhance the commercialization and clinical research levels of traditional medicine, deepen the international cooperation network among experts and scholars, and vigorously promote the construction of a shared human health community."
This forum received widespread support and was a remarkable success, with around 500 participants attending in person for face-to-face exchanges, and over 1,000 participants joining online.