The first China-CEE (Central-Eastern European) Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI) Forum opened in Belgrade on June 5 with an aim to create a communication platform for exchange in the sector.

The two-day forum with the theme of "Our Common Future: Creative Industries and Cultural Trade" was organized by culture ministries of China and Serbia.

Serbian Culture Minister Ivan Tasovac, Chinese ambassador to Serbia Li Manchang co-launched the event in which more than 100 scholars and representatives of institutions from China and 16 CEE countries participated.

"It should be our goal that culture gets into the focus of all plans for sustainable growth, and with an integrated approach towards establishing cultural policies to build societies that have deep respect for all aspects of human creativity and diversity," Tasovac stressed in his opening speech.

He explained that the expansion of the market of cultural industries is important because culture promotes mutual understanding, and "culture and art are increasingly becoming important factors of the economic growth."

"Serbia and China have a dynamic bilateral cooperation. Serbia has also proved as a reliable partner within the 16+1 mechanism. I sincerely hope that this gathering will be useful for finding ideas and solution for further opening and expanding of the international market of cultural industries," Tasovac said.

Commenting on the cooperation between China and Serbia, chief expert of China Institute for Cultural Trade Research Li Xiaomu, who also participated in the event, told Xinhua that he believes the forum held today will be very important for the future.

"I think the work we did today will prove to be very significant for our future," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2016)