Businesses from China, Mongolia and Russia sign cooperation agreements at the "Tea Road" promotion conference on Sept 26. [Photo/nmgnews.com.cn]

A "Tea Road" promotion conference of international tourism, part of the Second China-Mongolia Expo, was held in Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Sept 26.

The "Tea Road" was an ancient international trade route that started from South China’s Fujian province and ran to St Petersburg in Russia about 320 years ago. It is also known as the “ten thousand li (5,000 kilometers) tea road”.

“As a country on the ‘Tea Road’, China will work with its counterparts to make the road a world-class travel route,” said Xue Yaping, a senior official of the China National Tourism Administration.

The conference gathered more than 200 representatives of tourism sectors, media and governments from China, Russia and Mongolia. They exchanged ideas on how to promote tourism cooperation.

Cooperation agreements between eight tourism businesses and two universities were also signed at the event, providing that the parties will work together on the construction of hotels, holiday resorts, student teaching and teacher training.

“We have made great achievements in promoting economic and cultural exchanges between China, Mongolia and Russia in recent years,” said Ai Lihua, vice-chairwomen of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

In the past two years, Inner Mongolia received a total of 1.7 million tourists from Mongolia and 1.11 million from Russia, accounting for 80 percent and 32 percent respectively of the total numbers in China.

Officials of Mongolia (left), China (central) and Russia (right) perform at the promotion conference on Sept 26. [Photo/nmgnews.com.cn]