Han Lei, editor-in-chief of China Daily Online announces the Zhanjiang Declaration at the closing ceremony of 15th Forum on Internet Media of China in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province on July 17, 2015. [Photo/Feng Yongbin]

Online media should be better communicator of Belt and Road Initiative: Zhanjiang forum

Online media should be a better communicator and narrator of the Belt and Road Initiative, said the 15th Forum on Internet Media of China in a declaration in Zhanjiang, southern China's Guangdong province, on Friday.

The Zhanjiang Declaration said the media should also try to be a facilitator in international cooperation and an opinion leader in people-to-people exchange.

Han Lei, editor-in-chief of China Daily website, announced the declaration at the closing ceremony of the forum. The event itself runs through Saturday in Zhanjiang.

The forum, led by the Cyberspace Administration of China, is co-hosted by the All-China Journalists' Association and major news websites at both national and regional levels.

China Daily website and Zhanjiang municipal government co-organized the forum that's themed "E-path to One Belt, One Road" this year.

Ren Xianliang, deputy chief of the Cyberspace Administration of China, earlier called on the country's Web-based businesses and media to actively engage in the Belt and Road Initiative -- a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia, Europe, and Africa.

Ren added they need to build a "digital Silk Road" and help upgrade traditional industries within and beyond the country's border, during a keynote speech at the forum's opening ceremony on Friday morning.

Zhanjiang, the host city of the 15th Forum on Internet Media of China, was a starting point of one of ancient China's earliest maritime trading routes, during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220). It is now one of the 15 pivotal cities in the Belt and Road Initiative.

More than 300 guests have been at the event, including government officials, leaders of key Internet websites, at both national and regional levels, major players in investment institutions and the Internet sector, experts on the Belt and Road Initiative, and industry representatives.

During sub forums, they brainstormed on how the Internet media, under the new era of "Internet Plus", can play to its strengths and contribute to realize the goals of the Belt and Road Initiative, which are to advance interconnection, promote common development and mutual prosperity.

The announcement of the Zhanjiang Declaration was later followed by a handover ceremony to the organizer, Youth.cn, of the 16th forum next year.