- The meeting is organised by the Office of the Vice-Principal for International Relations and Cooperation: “The Silk Road at the Universitat de València”.
- The aim of the “Silk Road” programme is to promote the development of a sustainable tourism and to conserve the cultural and natural patrimony of this historic route and also to keep alive the ethnographic memory and to encourage the train of thoughts and knowledges in other regions. Thus, Valencia is a referent among the cities of the Western Route of Silk because of its several bounds maintained with the other routes and textiles traders.
- In 2015, the Universitat de València subscribed the Action Protocol which purports the collaboration among several Valencians institutions in order to develop common activities in the field of the Silk Road. Furthermore, the Universitat de València is the only Spanish university which is member of the SUN (Silkroad Universities Network).
This meeting has been programmed for the next February 23 at 9:30 at the Aula Magna of the Office of the Principal by the Office of the Vice-Principal for International Relations and Cooperation. The objective is to present the initiative to the university community, the website and the “Silk Road Bank of Ideas”, an online tool designed by the Oficina de Polítiques per a l'Excel·lència [OPEX] for the researcher staff which will allow to pick up suggestions for engagement and to facilitate the coordination of the programme to the Vince-Principal. The presentation will be performed by Guillermo Palao, vice-principal of Internationalisation and Cooperation, responsible of the Universitat de València regarding the Valencia Silk Road City Protocol, endorsed by different Valencian institutions and entities. At the event will also intervene researchers and representatives of the different Centres involved in these activities (such as the Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Geography and History and the Faculty of Pharmacy), as well as the Director of the UNESCO Chair of the Universitat de València (José Miguel Soriano), the Director of the Confucius Institute (Vicent Andreu) and the Universitat’s representative in the affiliated Members Board of the UNWTO (Aurora Pedro).
Spain has been a member of the Silk Road Programme of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) since 1 April 2015 and the Valencian Jose Maria Chiquillo was appointed by the Spanish National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO on 16 April 2015, Focal Point of Spain in the UNESCO Programme “UNESCO Silk Road Online Platform”, and in June 2016 assumed the International Presidency of the UNESCO SILK ROAD Programme until June 2018. The Cortes Valencianas declared Valencia as Silk City 2016, this decision was countersigned by the Generalitat Valenciana and the Spain Government because it was a magnificent opportunity to Valencia to get its prominence among the mythical Silk Road cities back and to jut the precious historic-artistic patrimony internationally out.
The Universitat de València is the only Spanish academic institution which is part of the Affiliate Members of the UNWTO, formally associated since 1976 in the United Nations and in 2003 it turned into a specialised organism. The UNWTO and the UNESCO, encouraged by the cultural exchange interest, the trade and the tourism, decided to reinforce the old routes as a touristic concept with the union of three continents; offering a travel based on the cultural and natural patrimony and the diversity of the journeys (overland and sea routes).
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