First #China-Russia #ThinkTankForum kicks off in Beijing

The first China-Russia Think Tank Forum kicked off in Beijing on 29 May. Themed with “China and Russia: Cooperation in the New Era”, the forum attracted over 300 Chinese and Russian experts to exchange views on the prospects of bilateral co-operation, write Ji Peijuan and Xie Yahong from People’s Daily.

The event, jointly held by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), is the first think tank forum held under the collaboration of the two countries. It will be hosted in turns in China and Russia.

The two-day forum was attended by more than 350 representatives from the two country’s think tanks, media, academia, industries, and cultural circles, as well as related Chinese departments and foreign diplomatic agencies in China.

During the forum, in-depth discussions have been carried out on the two country’s development of domestic and diplomatic affairs, coordination in a changing world, regional cooperation potentials, security cooperation, energy and infrastructure cooperation, bilateral economic relations in global economy, and people-to-people cooperation.

China-Russia relations have become healthy and mature new-type relations between major countries through development over the years, which boosted development and forcefully safeguarded the sovereignty, security and development interests of the two countries, as well as the peace, stability and prosperity of the world, said Dai Bingguo, Chinese chairman of the China-Russia Friendship Committee for Peace and Development.

Looking forward, China-Russia relations should scale new heights, to raise the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between the two countries to a new higher level, Dai said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, who is also a RIAC member, said China-Russia co-operation has been fruitful over recent years and the two countries, through manners of political wisdom, have deepened economic and trade cooperation. Regional co-operation has become a new momentum for the promotion of bilateral ties, he added.

Looking ahead, building a new international order of diversity, inclusiveness, equality and mutual trust will be an important direction for bilateral cooperation, he said.

CASS and RIAC will jointly release a think-tank report during the forum. The Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, RIAC and the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at Russian Academy of Sciences will also jointly release a research report. The reports will provide reference for further development of China-Russia relations and synergy of strategies under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

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