Photo shows the scene of the 2019 Forum on the Development of Tibet in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, June 14, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhou Jinshuai)

LHASA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region will further open itself up and intensify international exchanges and cooperation, chairman of the regional government Qizhala said Friday.

While delivering a keynote speech at the 2019 Forum on the Development of Tibet, Qizhala said the region will pursue international cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative and actively engage itself in the building of the Himalayan economic cooperation belt and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor.

A set of measures will be adopted by the region to promote international cooperation.

According to Qizhala, Tibet will work to better align its development with that of its neighbors, improve the economic and trade coordination mechanism between itself and South Asian countries and explore to build a multilateral cooperation mechanism for jointly building the Belt and Road.

Qizhala also vowed to improve infrastructure connectivity, saying that Tibet will actively promote the building of the Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network.

At the same time, Tibet will further improve its ports and clearance efficiency in order to facilitate economic and trade cooperation with South Asian countries.

It will also expand market access for foreign investment and support foreign investment to set up payment institutions in Tibet.

Additionally, Qizhala said Tibet will deepen international cultural and people-to-people exchanges and intensify international cooperation in terms of science, education, culture and health.

The region is also willing to share its experience with its neighbors in terms of environmental protection and natural disasters prevention.

Statistics show that Tibet saw its total import and export volume reach 4.8 billion yuan (about 693 million U.S. dollars) in 2018. Enterprises in the region invested a total of 280 million U.S. dollars in Belt and Road countries.

This year, Tibet celebrates the 60th anniversary of democratic reform that abolished serfdom.

Qizhala said during the past 60 years, "the poor and backward old Tibet was transformed into a new Tibet featuring economic and cultural prosperity, all-round social progress, a good ecological environment and happiness of the people."

The 2019 Forum on the Development of Tibet opened Friday in Lhasa. The one-day forum, hosted by the State Council Information Office and the people's government of Tibet Autonomous Region, gathers nearly 160 scholars and officials from 37 countries and regions.