SIBIU, Romania, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Romania's first International Conference on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) opened on Thursday in central city of Sibiu, with the theme of "Building B&R Civilization, Sharing Healthy Lives."

"The convening of the conference is of great significance to the development of TCM culture in Europe, especially in Central and Eastern Europe," Professor Constantin Oprean, the Romanian director of the Confucius Institute at Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, told the opening ceremony of the conference jointly hosted by the Romanian university together with Yangzhou TCM Hospital, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine.

Oprean emphasized that the conference would be not only the beginning of high-end exchanges of TCM culture between China and Romania, but also the vigorous promotion of the culture in Romania and neighboring countries. It is believed that more students would choose Chinese medicine-related majors to study in the future.

Xia Lei, educational representative of the Chinese Embassy in Romania, said in his turn that TCM is an important cultural treasure of the Chinese people and the ongoing conference constitutes an important platform for exchange and cooperation, integrating academic resources and improving academic standards to promote the quality, safety and accessibility of TCM in Romania, an important country along the "Belt and Road," as well as other countries around Europe.

During the three-day conference, participating scholars will conduct extensive dialogue and exchange around the theme of the conference.

Speakers on the first day of the conference included Vice President Tang Zhishu, Xu Hongbo from Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Liu Yanqing from Yangzhou University, Zhang Xiaochun and Dai Xiaojun from Yangzhou TCM Hospital, Angela Tudor and Reghina Patru, President and Vice President of the Romanian Society of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as well as TCM practitioners from Ireland and other countries.

In their reports, the Chinese experts and scholars mainly introduced TCM development and innovation in the diagnosis and treatment of special diseases, explained and answered the key points of future TCM research; while the TCM practitioners in Romania tried to give a detailed introduction to the promotion and development of TCM in Romania, expressing their strong expectation of further international exchanges and cooperation in TCM.

The attendees and the audience at the meeting said that the reports of the participating experts led people closer to the genuine world of Chinese medicine, hoping to have more chance to learn about TCM culture in the future.