The Silk Road International Museum Alliance welcomed five new members as it held its second annual conference to discuss future exchanges in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, on Friday.

The alliance's first joint exhibition of 200 items from 13 museums was staged alongside the conference in the Tang West Market Museum from Friday to Sunday.

"The alliance is an inclusive platform to promote cooperation," says the museum's director, Wang Bin, who was among the alliance's initiators.