Dr. Akkan Suver, President of the Marmara Group Foundation, delivered a speech at the International Belt and Road Workshop held in the city of Nanjing and organized by Xinhua News Agency and the Xinhua Institute.

In his remarks, Dr. Suver emphasized the importance of global cooperation, economic integration and sustainable development, while also highlighting Türkiye’s role within the Belt and Road Initiative and the Marmara Group Foundation’s long-standing efforts in promoting regional dialogue.

The full text of Dr. Suver’s speech is presented below:

I respectfully greet your esteemed committee on behalf of the Marmara Group Foundation from Istanbul.

I would also like to extend our gratitude to your host, Xinhua Agency for their hospitality.

Today, on behalf of the Marmara Group Foundation, I would like to share with you one of our observations and claims.

The Belt and Road Initiative, which embodies a philosophy of peace and stability in our time, is evolving and expanding as a concept that spans continents.

Naturally, trade, money, and the exchange of products are important components of the Belt and Road Initiative. Nevertheless, we consider the Belt and Road Initiative to be fundamentally a peace and stability initiative.

Accordingly, we believe that the Belt and Road Initiative should be carried beyond the confines of the business and political worlds.

It is essential that this idea be conveyed to broad segments of society.

In other words, we must ensure that the Belt and Road Initiative is explained particularly to young people and that they embrace it. Only in this way can we carry the Belt and Road Initiative into the future.

For this purpose, the relevant countries should teach the Belt and Road Initiative as a subject in high schools or comparable educational institutions.

Textbooks should include the Silk Road in their historical development, followed by the Belt and Road Initiative under its current name, so that younger generations may acquire knowledge on this subject.

As we, here—on different platforms, as academics, political figures, and members of the trade and industrial world—are narrating and talking about the Belt and Road.

Our conversations stay among us or within the surroundings of those who speak. Yet we are required to transmit these to society in a permanent manner.

Otherwise, the Belt and Road will be confined to the vocabulary of just a few people in each country.
In order to call your attention, I would like to ask your esteemed delegation:

If you consider it honestly, who in our countries, apart from you, is concerned with the Belt and Road initiative? Please be curious and think!

For this reason, as the Marmara Group Foundation, we believe that the Belt and Road initiative must be included in the school textbooks with care and attentiveness. Please consider this issue.

I would like to thank you for listening to me and salute your esteemed delegation with respect.