ATHENS, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official Liu Yunshan on Monday elaborated on China's concept of civilization, calling for all countries to learn from each other among different civilizations in a bid to achieve win-win outcomes.

Liu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, put forward the ideas while delivering a speech at the China-Europe Civilization Dialogue held in Athens.

"The dialogue held in Athens centres on how to enhance mutual learning among civilizations, which will give a positive push for deepening mutual trust and jointly building China-Europe civilization partnership," said Liu, who is on an official goodwill visit to Greece starting on Sunday.

Greece is the birthplace of European civilization, while China is an important representative of Eastern civilization, and the long history of communication between the Chinese and European civilizations has constitute the historical progress for the development of China, Europe as well as the world, said Liu.

Liu said China has always adhered to a concept of civilization featuring the ideas like diversity, treating each other on an equal footing, harmony and sharing, defusing confrontation and learning from others.

With regard to difference among civilizations and conflicts between each other, Liu urged the countries to conduct more communications, dialogues and consultations in the spirit of openness and inclusiveness.

We should engage in dialogue but not confrontation, replace "civilization clash" with "civilization harmony", said Liu.

Liu said China's Belt and Road initiative has made satisfying achievements, and China-Europe comprehensive strategic partnership has become increasingly enhanced.

He added the two sides should take new opportunities to promote China-Europe civilization exchanges and jointly building a community of common destiny for mankind.

Liu made a four-point proposal to further China-Europe civilization dialogue in terms of strategic trust, cultural exchanges, non-governmental exchanges and pragmatic cooperation.

Liu also called for the integration of China's Belt and Road initiative with Europe's development strategies so as to produce more cooperative outcomes.

On the same day, Liu unveiled a China Culture Center in Athens.

During his stay in Greece, Liu is expected to meet Greek leaders on bilateral relations.

 THE yuan’s inclusion in the International Monetary Fund’s elite reserve currency basket on Saturday was hailed by Chinese businesses and analysts as a “historic moment.”

“Ten years ago, the yuan could hardly go out of the country. But now China’s opening-up and huge economic size has made it more and more popular in the international market,” said Lu Jian, vice president of Guangdong Guangken Rubber Group Co Ltd.

Early this year, Guangken Rubber launched a US$270 million bid for Thailand’s Thai Hua Rubber, the world’s third-largest rubber producer.

The company then sought loans from domestic and overseas banks, with some offering to fund its bid in yuan.

The acquisition in yuan helps reduce foreign exchange risks as well as fund-raising costs, said Lu.

“Ten years ago, all our overseas business was conducted in the US dollars and we often did not have yuan clearing banks. It’s quite a different scenario now,” he said.

Today, China has 21 overseas yuan clearing banks across the world.

“Despite the fluctuations in the exchange rate, the international market has not lost interest in the yuan and on the contrary, global demand is increasing,” Lu said.

On Friday, the IMF announced the launch of its new Special Drawing Right basket, including the yuan, effective from Saturday, saying it was a “historic milestone” for China, the IMF and the international monetary system.

The inclusion makes the yuan one of the five reserve currencies fully endorsed by the 189-member organization, joining the US dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.

Now, the yuan accounts for the third-largest share of the new SDR basket with 10.92 percent, following the US dollar’s 41.73 percent and the Euro’s 30.93 percent.

“The yuan’s inclusion reflects the progress made in reforming China’s monetary, foreign exchange and financial systems and acknowledges the advances made in liberalizing and improving the infrastructure of its financial markets,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.

The yuan has moved into the top 10 but still trails the other major currencies, according to the Bank for International Settlements.

Created in the 1960s, the “Special Drawing Right” is a unit of account used by the IMF as a foreign exchange reserve asset and is not a freely traded currency. To help manage financial crises, the IMF issues loans to member countries denominated in SDRs.

In July 2009, China approved pilot program for cross-border trade settlement in yuan, embarking on the internationalization process of the currency.

The yuan was the fifth most active currency for global payments by value in July, with a share of 1.9 percent, an increase from 1.72 percent in June, according to data from global transaction services organization SWIFT.

China’s central bank said on Saturday that the country will continue to push forward financial reforms and market opening after the yuan’s inclusion.

Zhang Lijun, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers China, said the yuan’s inclusion was of similar significance to China’s joining the World Trade Organization.

“The two cases also have showed that China helped to improve rather than topple global rules and this has positive significance for the coordination of global economic governance,” said Zhang.

 CHINA’S first government-endorsed virtual reality industry alliance was founded yesterday in Beijing, which is expected to establish industry standards and a strong VR ecosystem in the country.

The Industry of Virtual Reality Alliance, or IVRA, which is supported by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, aims to enhance the development of the VR ecosystem in China by promoting innovation in technology, formulating industry standards, bridging hardware, software, content, platforms and industrial application.

More than 170 enterprises and institutions have joined IVRA, such as companies including HTC, Alibaba, Huawei, JD.com, NetEase, LeEco, iQiYi, Samsung, Nokia, AMD, NVIDIA and ARM; research centers and education institutions like Peking University, Zhejiang University, Columbia University, Stanford University and the University of Washington.

Industrial parks and investment institutions such as China Nanchang VR Industrial Base, Shanghai Jinqiao Economic and Technological Development Zone and VR Venture also joined IVRA.

HTC is committed to promoting VR technology innovation in China, Cher Wang, chairwoman and CEO of HTC, said in a statement. It will also assist MIIT to formulate industry standards.

China has great market potential for VR device makers, smartphone vendors and content providers, with the market value expected to be 55 billion yuan (US$8.3 billion) by 2020, or a 36-fold jump from 2014, according to iResearch, a Shanghai-based research firm.

VR devices including HTC’s Vive and Sony PlayStation VR are already available in China.

 CHINA’S national rail freight volume, an indicator of economic activity, declined in the first eight months of the year, the country’s top economic planner said yesterday.

Rail freight volume between January and August dropped 6.3 percent year on year to 2.1 billion tons, compared with a 3.2 percent rise in the first seven months, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

In August, rail freight volume rose 0.1 percent year on year to 277 million tons, the commission said.

China’s economic growth held steady at 6.7 percent in the second quarter, still the lowest level since the 2009 global financial crisis but within the government’s target range for this year.