The expo aims to promote the high-quality development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) through inheritance and innovation, as well as opening up and sharing, the organizer said.

Gansu is a major TCM production base in China and has a long history of growing TCM herbs. Since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013, Gansu has signed cooperation contracts with 12 countries, including Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Hungary, and has built 16 TCM education, research and treatment facilities overseas.

Martin Taylor, the World Health Organization representative in China, said that TCM has a long history and rich resources, and people can draw a lot of nourishment from TCM to deal with the new health challenges they face in the future.

According to Jean Louis Robinson, Madagascar's ambassador to China, more than 600 doctors from Gansu have worked in Madagascar. The 23rd Chinese medical team to Madagascar, with a total of 32 members, arrived in the island country in March, helping improve the medical technology and management level of local hospitals.

Since 2018, the expo has been jointly organized by the National Health Commission, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Gansu provincial government, actively boosting the development of the TCM industry in Gansu.  ■

A pharmacist fulfills a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription at Gansu Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Oct. 23, 2021. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)