The 3rd Jing Shi Belt and Road Forum organized by Belt and Road School of BNU, and supported by the Xinhua Institute, was held at BNU Zhuhai on December 18, 2021.

 

The Forum took “Advancing High-Quality Belt and Road Cooperation: Promoting the Development of Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin” as the theme. Nearly 100 renowned experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs across the nation attended the forum.

 

Wang Shoujun, Vice President and Member of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Normal University (BNU) Party Committee and Dean of Belt and Road School (BRS) addressed the opening ceremony. He pointed out that BRS has cultivated batches of outstanding talents who know and are friendly to China. In recent years, BRS has made a number of marked theoretical achievements and supported the central government and relevant departments in decision-making. Besides, BRS has carried out cultural exchanges to actively promote “the Spread of Excellent Chinese Culture,” which has contributed to a common aspiration and broadened cooperation among the Belt and Road countries.

 

Wang Shoujun emphasized that BNU is willing to give full play to its social service function, build a university-enterprise cooperation platform, and jointly explore modes and ways of the cooperation to support enterprises for participating in the Belt and Road Initiative by cultivating needed talents.

 

Yang Liu, Deputy Director of the Think Tank Office of Xinhua Institute, put forward three proposals on the Belt and Road construction in the opening speech: first, strengthen Think Tank research to promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative; second, improve publicity to tell vivid stories about the Belt and Road; and third, deepen people-to people exchanges along the Belt and Road.

 

Three Distinguished Professors of BRS: Zlatko Lagumdzija, former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Djoomart Otorbaev, former Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan; Grzegorz W. Kolodko, former Deputy Premier and Minister of finance of Poland; and one special guest: Hermann Simon, Honorary President of Hermann Simon Business School and founder of the concept of “Hidden Champions,” congratulated the forum and delivered addresses online.

 

After the opening ceremony, nine experts and scholars from the government, renowned universities and research institutes made keynote speeches respectively, offering opinions and suggestions from multiple aspects on key issues of the Belt and Road Initiative.

 

Jiang Yaoping, former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, reviewed the achievements of China-ASEAN trade in the past 30 years in his speech. He mentioned that in 2020, the total bilateral trade between China and ASEAN accounted for 14.7% of China's total foreign trade. ASEAN surpassed the European Union to became China's largest trading partner for the frst time. Jiang Yaoping believes that this is the achievement due to China upholding the principles of "extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits," and a proof of China’s excellent strategic vision and determination.

Zhao Ai, Vice-chairman and Secretary General of China Society of Economic Reform, elaborated his views on how entrepreneurs can participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and the construction of Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin. Zhao Ai believes that as enterprises participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, they must make firm and good moves by paying attention to financial issues, avoiding risks, and fulfilling social responsibilities. He pointed out that the construction of Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin has provided Macao with room for significant economic growth, better integrated Macao into China’s overall development, better promoted the construction of the Greater Bay Area, and reflected the "One Country, Two Systems" principle.

 

On the afternoon of December 18, three seminars focusing on “New Situation and New Task for High-quality Belt and Road Initiative,” “Belt and Road Initiative and the development of Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin,” and “Specialized, Refined, Differentiated, and Innovative SMEs and Enterprises ‘Going out’ in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative” had been conducted.

 

Prof. Hu Biliang, Executive Dean of BRS, said that under the current new situation, the Belt and Road initiative shall undertake new missions: first, firmly support the protection of people’s lives and health; second, effectively support a good response to climate change and a green transformation; third, provide new instruments for upholding multilateralism and further promoting economic globalization; and fourth, provide new opportunities for global poverty reduction.

 

At the forum, BRS shared its research findings on the measurement and evaluation of comprehensive development levels of the Belt and Road countries. Dr. Zhang Kunling, from BRS, gave a detailed introduction to the overall characteristics and main issues of the Belt and Road countries at the current developmental stages, and pointed out that the Belt and Road Initiative will focus on energy cooperation, industrial cooperation and green development cooperation in the future.

 

The three seminars were hosted by Associate Prof. Liu Qian, Vice Dean of BRS; Wan Zhe, Research Fellow of BRS; and Lin Huichun, Director of the Training Department of BRS, respectively.