From November 6 to 8, the 2nd International Conference on Traditional Medicine of the Belt and Road Initiatives, organized by medicinal plant team, was held in HZAU. Over 100 representatives from 15 countries and regions, including Japan, Australia, Iran, Fiji, Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, as well as from Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences attended the conference.

First of all, Professor Hu Xuebo delivered an opening address, which covered the following topics: the inheritance, innovation, challenges of traditional medicine, the domestic and international situations and trading of Chinese medicinal materials, and the R&D progress in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). He hoped that the participants could exchange their academic achievements on traditional medicine, and meanwhile conduct more innovative researches by taking advantage of modern technology, thus promoting the integration of science, teaching, research and industry of medicine in countries along the Belt and Road.

Many domestic and foreign scholars made reports at the conference. Cai Baochang, Vice President of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, reviewed the history of medical exchanges between foreign countries and China. He said, in China’s Han Dynasty around 140 B.C., Zhang Qian, a royal emissary, made two journeys to the Western Regions along the Silk Road. This great undertaking not only spread Chinese civilization, including traditional Chinese medicine, but also absorbed foreign medicine culture into China. Professor Mika from Fiji National University said that, there were many traditional medicine materials in Fiji, the most widely-known of which was kava. Kava was originated in Fiji with a long history, however, due to the technical and instrumental obstacles, research and application of kava is still limited. Mika hoped that this trip to China could help popularize kava and its application. Professor Ganjidoust from Tarbiat Modares University said, Iran was rich in traditional medicine resources and there were many enterprises engaged in traditional medicine production. He is looking forward to communicating with Chinese scholars to share new technologies and achievements in the research of TCM products.

Traditional medicine is the crystallization of wisdom in the course of human civilization. To push forward the intellectual property protection for global traditional medicine and the industry’s healthy and sustainable development, during the meeting, Prof. Hu Xuebo also proposed the establishment of the Belt and Road International Association for traditional medicine. It is expected that, through this new platform,  extensive academic exchanges will be organized, and association journal of medicine will be published. Further efforts should be made to establish the international protection mechanism and innovation platform for traditional medicine, facilitate scientific research of traditional medicine, deepen cooperation and exchanges, and expand more space to the development of traditional medicine.

Source: http://news.hzau.edu.cn/2018/1113/53078.shtml

Translated by: Leng Yaqing

Supervised by: Pan Buhan