A promotion conference for the 2024 International Youth Forum (IYF) on Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Roads was held online on August 16. More than 200 young people from countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative watched and interacted with each other in real time through the online platform. At the conference, representatives from UNESCO, the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, and youth representatives from Changsha and Nanjing cities introduced  the previous sessions and the host cities' situation of the forum.

In 2013, China put forward the Belt and Road Initiative. To carry forward the Silk Road spirit of "peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit", China and UNESCO jointly initiated the IYF on Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Roads in 2017 and has been holding the forum ever since. The forum has so far attracted nearly 700 young people from more than 130 countries.

Liu Xiaoxi from Changsha was a Chinese youth representative at the 3rd IYF on Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Roads. At the meeting, she briefed international youth participants on the history, culture, and urban development of Changsha, one of the forum's host cities. On behalf of the youth from Changsha, she also extended an invitation to the world, welcoming global youths to Changsha, a "City of Media Arts" in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, for cultural exchanges and industry-economy cooperation.

The 2024 IYF on Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Roads is scheduled to be held in Changsha and Nanjing from September 22 to 28 this year. More than 1,300 young people from 118 countries have signed up for the forum since a recruitment program for global youths was launched on August 1.