DUSHANBE, September 11, 2012, Asia-Plus – Iran proposes to create a visa area for the Silk Road countries that would be similar to the Shengen Area, Azerbaijan’s news agency, Trend, reports.

“This will contribute to development of tourism between our countries and facilitate travels through attracting a large tourist flow to the region.  This will promote expansion of ties and establishment of peace in the region,” Iran’s Vice-President Sayed Hasan Mousavi was quoted as saying at international conference “Taste of the Silk Road: Cookery, Culture, and Tourism” in Baku on September 6.

According to him, the Silk Road countries must use their potential to develop tourism and relevant industries.

Sayed Hasan Mousavi also proposed to establish the General Assembly of the Silk Road Countries and to hold its congress in Iran at t the end of the next year.  Following this, the year of 2014 would be declared the Year of the Silk Road, a Silk Road Day would be held in the framework of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and the Silk Road Atlas would be created.   

The “Silk Road” has been traveled for centuries by conquerors, traders, missionaries, geographers and, more recently, tourists. It served as a fundamental link between the East and West, exchanging cultures, crafts, ideas, technologies, beliefs and peoples.  Since 1991, coinciding with the independence of the five Central Asian republics, there has been a revival of interest in the Silk Road – for cultural exchange, trade and tourism.