Symposium on the Development of TCM under the "One Belt and One Road" Strategy was held in Urumchi on Dec 15, 2014. Wang Guoqiang, commissioner of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, delivered the keynote speech. Attendees include officials from SATCM, the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Xinjiang Provincial Government, provincial administrative departments of TCM, experts from universities of Chinese medicine, China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicines & Health Products and overseas experts.

Today, the vast majority of the countries along the Belt and the Road, including the Central Asian countries, the Western Asian countries, the Southern Asian countries, the ASEAN countries, the Arabian and the African countries, are still developing countries in the world, whose health and medical care systems comparatively lag behind. Socially, they bear a lot of resemblance to China. Politically, they have established good neighbor relations with China. Economically, they are pressing for deeper and more fruitful cooperation with China. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine with simple, convenient, easy and inexpensive characteristics enjoys huge market potential and wide acceptance and support from the public in these countries.

Under such a background, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SATCM), Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government departments concerned are discussing how to effectively combine the "One Belt and One Road" Strategy with the international communication of traditional Chinese medical culture. Driven by this great mission, the first Symposium on the Development of TCM under the "One Belt and One Road" Strategy was held in Urumchi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Dec 15, 2014.

On Jan 11 at the Working Conference of TCM 2015 held in Beijing, promotion of the international communication of traditional Chinese medical culture is being considered as one of the 10 important tasks this year by Wang Guoqiang, Vice-Minister for the National Health and Family Planning Commission and Commissioner of SATCM. The "One Belt and One Road" Strategy is offering unprecedented good opportunities for traditional Chinese medical culture.

The author is an expert in traditional Chinese medical culture from Hubei University of Chinese Medicine