Astana will host the Global Silk Road Forum on July 3 to 4, Serik Nugerbekov, director of the International Secretariat G-Global, confirmed during the Kazakhstan and China in the New Epoch of Interaction round table held at the Kazakh Embassy in Beijing last week.

The international forum is being held to mark the 5th anniversary of the Belt and Road initiative and the 20th anniversary of Astana becoming the capital of Kazakhstan, Nugerbekov explained.

He went on to add that the international Silk Road Science Academy proposed by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev at a high level forum for international cooperation in May 2017 has already been established, according to APP.

“We thank the scientists of the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation and 30 other countries for the support. We propose to continue the trend of bringing representatives of different fields together for cooperation,” Nugerbekov said.

Also on the agenda for the event is a forum that will bring together the mayors of cities along the ancient Silk Road, the goal of which is to further boost communication and cooperation, he noted.

Highlights of the coming Global Silk Road Forum includes celebrated Chinese artist Shu Yong's masterpiece Golden Bridge on Silk Road.

Based on the ancient Zhaozhou Bridge in Hebei Province, the large installation work, stretching 28 meters in length and conveying the message of a united community with a common future, has been widely regarded as a cultural symbol of the B&R initiative.

The work was also presented at the Milan Expo in 2015 and the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing in 2017.