On 2 September, the First Conference of the Silk Road International Library Alliance was held in Hangzhou in the form of video conference. The conference was supported by Bureau of International Exchange and Cooperation, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, China, sponsored by the National Library of China (NLC) and Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and organized by Zhejiang Library. Feng Litao, Deputy Director of Bureau of International Exchange and Cooperation, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, China, Chen Ying, Deputy Director of the NLC, Xu Peng, Deputy Director of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Chu Shuqing, Director of Zhejiang Library, more than 30 national library directors and representatives of famous cultural institutions from 27 co-developing "The Belt and Road" countries of Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania and so on, and more than 30 library directors and experts from domestic libraries attended the video conference.

In his opening speech, Feng Litao said that "The Belt and Road", which was adhering to the spirit of Ancient Silk Road, was transforming from China initiative into global action, and had become a great practice of building the community of human destiny. The Silk Road International Library Alliance initiated by China was an important achievement in the cultural field practice. It was also a major measure to build long-term cooperation and regular communication mechanism among library communities in various countries. China expected that through this conference, the member libraries would further gather cooperation consensus, form a joint force for development, and steadily realize the cooperation vision of business improvement and talent training under the framework of the alliance.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Xu Peng said that since ancient times, Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province had been an important node city of the Land Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road. Various splendid cultures collided and blended here because of frequent trade exchanges. The experts and scholars of "The Belt and Road" countries got together through this virtual manner, shared knowledge and looked forward to the future, gave advice and suggestions for the transformation and reform of librarianship, and contributed wisdom to the development of human civilization. He hoped that this conference could promote the development of the community of common destiny for libraries of "The Belt and Road" countries, and the Silk Road International Library Alliance could develop and grow continuously.

Chen Ying made a keynote report on behalf of the leading institution of the alliance. She reviewed the background and main achievements of the Silk Road International Library Alliance first, and pointed out the strong resilience and vigorous vitality of "The Belt and Road" international cooperation presented in the global anti-epidemic action, which proved that libraries could play more important roles in promoting "The Belt and Road" cultural exchange and cooperation and strengthening mutual learning of civilizations. She proposed that libraries of "The Belt and Road" countries should further strengthen exchanges and cooperation. Finally, she proposed three suggestions for promoting the sustainable development of the alliance: optimizing the management and operation mechanism, and strengthening the cooperation consensus of the member organizations; strengthening the construction of brand projects and promoting stable and far-reaching cooperation in key fields; deepening digital cooperation and promoting the intelligent innovation and transformation of libraries.

At the same time, the Third Silk Road International Library Alliance Forum was held. Representatives from 3 domestic member institutions, including Zhejiang Library, Fujian Provincial Library and Shaanxi Library, and 5 international member institutions, including the National Library of Indonesia, the Qatar National Library, the Russian State Library for Foreign Literature, the Saudi Arabia King Abdul Aziz Public Library, and the National Library Board, Singapore, made reports on the conference theme of "Creating a new future for the community of common destiny for libraries of "The Belt and Road" countries", shared cases and exchanged experiences, and provided suggestions for the future development of the alliance.

There were 38 member institutions of the Silk Road International Library Alliance, which was composed of representative libraries from "The Belt and Road" countries. Compared with the beginning of the establishment of alliance, the number of the alliance members had increased, and it would continue to develop steadily in the next stage and attract more representative libraries at home and abroad.

During the conference, the member institutions of the alliance discussed and adopted the Management Measures of the Silk Road International Library Alliance, which elaborated and defined the purpose, functions, organization, members and funds of the alliance in detail. The smooth promotion of this agenda was of great significance to the standardized operation and sustainable development of the alliance.

As the leading institution of the alliance, the NLC released two long-term key projects planned by the alliance, i.e. "Silk Road Digital Library", "Series of Training Courses for Librarians of the Silk Road International Library Alliance", which were about to be launched, and received positive responses from the participating member institutions. Through the effective implementation of the project mechanism, all parties agreed to deepen the concept of cooperative development and sharing of resources, carry out thematic document preservation and digital cooperation, and strengthen exchanges in library management and personnel training.

The convening of the First Silk Road International Library Alliance Conference and the entry into force of the Management Measures of the Silk Road International Library Alliance indicated that the construction of the alliance had taken substantive steps. As the chairman of the first alliance steering committee and the location of the alliance steering committee office, the NLC would actively build an exchange mechanism, build a cooperation platform, plan brand projects, and provide services and guarantee for the high-quality development of the alliance in the future.